The entry of Reliance Jio has created many job, down till the neighbourhood seller of connections, while the state has also pitched in with projects like public wi-fi and Bharatnet which have created jobs, he said. He exuded confidence that the market will "stabilise" with the fewer operators that are currently on board. Speaking at the same event, BSNLs chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava quoted some estimates which peg the total investments required for a pan-India rollout of 5G services at up to Rs 50 lakh crore, but affirmed that the industry will deploy the technology by December 2019. We had appointed a consultant to revive MTNL, who has given some recommendations.Mumbai: Telecom minister Manoj Sinha on Friday said there is no proposal to merge state-run telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL)."Getting 5G to reality is our governments priority and we are serious about it," he said. We are not going to miss the 5G bus this time," the minister said. The publicly-listed MTNL serves the national capital and financial capital alone, while the unlisted BSNL serves the rest of the country and also anchors several key projects for the government.

We are working on it," the minister said on the sidelines of a conference here.With reports pegging loss of about 90,000 jobs due to the ongoing woes in the industry, Sinha said it is incorrect to say that there have been job losses. And if need be, the government will help.A May 7 news report had quoted an unnamed official saying that there is a proposal given by the central public sector enterprises to merge all the state-run telecom firms, to create a public sector behemoth.When asked if the government will help by way of cheaper availability of spectrum given the importance of 5G, Sinha hinted that the department may help by approaching the Supreme Court (SC), which had passed a judgement asking for sale of spectrum assets. He, however, added that the 5G services will be rolled out by a multitude of players beyond the current set of battered telecom service providers (TSPs). But 5G roll out will not be only by TSPs; there will also be others investing in wholesale fix-bolts Suppliers it depending on use cases.."There is no proposal to merge BSNL and MTNL.The minister said it has been a phase of consolidation in the telecom sector acorss the world and India cannot be insulated from it.

He, however, did not elaborate on the recommendations of the consultant but reiterated that no merger proposal for the state-run firms is on the cards."Theres a SC order in 2G case."TSPs are facing financial difficulties due to competition.It can be noted that the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, coupled with policy initiatives like the deep cut in the interconnect user charges have led to financial troubles at a majority of the telecom companies, consolidation in the sector and job losses. We are bound by that. Weve asked TRAI to give recommendations and on that basis, if needed, we will approach SC," he said.Sinha, who was speaking on the sidelines of the department of telecom-organised seminar on 5G technology, said the government will do it all to ensure that the country gets the latest generation telephone services