New Delhi, May 27 (IANS): Communications Minister Kapil Sibal Thursday said that the government is committed to the betterment of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and will turn it around in the next six months.

"I am committed to the nation to turn it (BSNL) around in the next six months," Sibal said in his address at a BSNL awards ceremony held here.

According to him, his ministry was looking at formulating a new strategy to turn around the loss-making telecom operator, which has experienced tremendous fall in revenue in the last five years.

"The time has come to start introspecting on how to bring a change. We have to pull up our socks," Sibal said, emphasizing that the public sector undertaking is capable to compete with the private sector.

The minister awarded key performing BSNL's territorial circles based on the revenue performance for the fiscal 2010-11.

The categories identified were a circle with annual revenue of more than Rs.2,000 crore. The award went to the Karnataka telecom circle.

The second category award was won by Chennai telephone district for an annual revenue between Rs. 1,000 crore to Rs.2,000 crore, while the third rank was shared by Orissa and Himachal Pradesh telecom circles for an annual revenue up to Rs.1,000 crore.