As Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) continues its slow integration into Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), discontent is growing among its workforce. On June 6, 2025, employee unions submitted a formal letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), raising concerns over the long-standing stagnation in career progression, lack of HR benefits, and overall uncertainty surrounding their employment future.

The letter, addressed to Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal, the MTNL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), and the Communications Minister, has triggered a fresh round of protests by MTNL staff. According to a report by NDTV Profit, employees have launched a phased agitation, demanding immediate intervention and transparency from the central government.

MTNL employees claim that no promotions or performance-linked incentives have been given for years, and HR-related benefits like timely appraisals, internal transfers, and pension adjustments remain suspended. They attribute this stagnation to the ambiguous status of MTNL's operations post its planned merger with BSNL — a process that has seen repeated delays and little communication with affected employees.

The unions argue that while MTNL services are gradually being absorbed into BSNL, the employees themselves remain in limbo. This administrative grey zone, they say, has created “dual standards” where employees working under the same infrastructure operate under different conditions and compensation structures.

In the June 6 representation, employee representatives stressed the mental stress and professional demoralisation being faced by thousands of MTNL staff, particularly in the Delhi and Mumbai circles. These are the company’s two core operational regions, and many employees in these circles have reportedly not received promotions for over a decade.

According to the NDTV report, union leaders are calling for urgent policy clarity, especially on whether MTNL employees will be seamlessly integrated into BSNL with preserved seniority, pension eligibility, and service conditions. They also demand an explicit roadmap for future promotions, skill alignment, and retraining as part of the merger.

The Ministry of Communications and the DoT have so far not made a public statement in response to the June 6 letter or the ongoing protest.

Industry observers suggest that this unrest is symptomatic of broader structural challenges in the state-run telecom sector. Both BSNL and MTNL have faced stiff competition from private telecom players over the past decade, with shrinking market share, rising operational losses, and complex workforce management issues. While the government had earlier announced plans to merge BSNL and MTNL for operational efficiency, the lack of follow-through on employee-facing measures has now emerged as a flashpoint.

Employee unions also highlight the risks of talent erosion. With no upward mobility, limited skill development opportunities, and growing frustration, experienced professionals are either retiring without full benefits or seeking alternate employment outside the public sector — a shift that could hollow out institutional knowledge at a critical time.

One employee, speaking anonymously to NDTV, said, “It feels like we are invisible to the system. We have served the country’s telecom backbone for decades, but today we’re not even offered the dignity of a response.”

The phased protest is expected to intensify if there is no formal reply from the DoT. Employees have warned that they may escalate the movement to include non-cooperation measures, hunger strikes, and wider coordination with BSNL staff unions.

This situation also raises important questions for HR leaders in the public sector: how should organisations manage change communication during a merger? How do they maintain transparency when legal and administrative frameworks are still evolving? And how can they safeguard employee dignity in a time of transition?

Unless swift policy clarity is provided, the current unrest may not only derail the MTNL-BSNL integration but also deepen distrust within the public-sector telecom workforce — a workforce once considered the backbone of India’s communications infrastructure.