Robert Ravi to continue as BSNL CMD, selection board rejects proposed candidates

The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) has not recommended any candidate for the post of chairman and managing director (CMD) at state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

The selection board conducted interviews of 10 out of 12 shortlisted candidates for the top role, which included, Sandeep Govil, director (consumer mobility), BSNL, Vivek Jaiswal, principal general manager, BSNL, Heera Singh Bisht, principal chief engineer (civil), Dehradun, BSNL, Sunil Kumar, principal general manager (CFA-F & IA), BSNL, Nitin Ravindra Mahajan, principal general manager, Ahmedabad, BSNL, Rajesh Kumar, principal general manager-network (Pune Business Area), BSNL, Sanjeev Singhal, principal general manager (transmission), BSNL, among others.

“The Board did not recommend any candidate for the post and advised the Administrative Ministry/Department to choose an appropriate course of further action for selection including the search-cum-selection committee (SCSC) or as deemed appropriate with the approval of the competent authority,,” the selection board said in an official statement dated March 27, 2025.

ETTelecom has reviewed a copy of the document.

In July 13, 2024, Robert J Ravi, deputy director general (standards research and innovation) in the telecom department, was given the additional charge as CMD of BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), following rejection of PK Purwar’s extension.

Further, as an interim measure, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) extended the additional charge given to Ravi, for six more months, in January this year.

Ravi is expected to get further extension owing to ongoing BharatNet phase 3 program.

Till October 2024, under BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II, 2.14-lakh village blocks were made service-ready. This was against the planned network of 2.22-lakh blocks in both phases.