According to the Ministry of Communications and IT, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) have total outstanding dues of Rs 34.07 billion from subscribers as of December 2014.

The outstanding dues in respect of landline and mobile services of BSNL and MTNL stood at Rs 25.20 billion and Rs 8.87 billion, respectively. Further, in the past four years ended December 2014, BSNL recovered a total amount of Rs 253.41 billion from its landline and mobile subscribers. Meanwhile, MTNL has recovered a total amount of Rs 7.36 billion.

Both the state-owned telecom operators have taken various steps for recovery of outstanding dues from the subscribers,  which includes payment reminders through SMS are being issued to persuade the customers to make payment before disconnection for their telephones. It added that phones are disconnected as per the schedule in case of non-payment for dues by customers and connections remaining disconnected for non-payment are permanently closed after 90 days from date of disconnection.