• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Gaurav Raghuvanshi

Singapore , June 15

MAHANAGAR Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) plans to bid for the privatisation of the national telecom network in Rwanda and is planning to acquire a private operator in Madagascar.

The company, which has already spread its wings to Nepal as part of a consortium and Mauritius as an independent operator, is now eyeing new geographical areas to grow.

In India, MTNL is confined to New Delhi and Mumbai, which has prompted the state-owned operator to look for business overseas.

"The investment in Rwanda, if it comes through, will be in the region of $10 million. The country already has a fixed line infrastructure of about 25,000 lines and the successful operator will get a licence for mobile services as part of the privatisation plan,'' the MTNL Executive Director, Mr A.K. Girotra, told Business Line.

The company's planned foray into Madagascar involves a buy-out of an ailing local company offering mobile phone services.

"We are conducting due diligence. As of now, we do not have the financial details worked out for the proposed acquisition,'' he said.

MTNL has already started work in Mauritius, where it bagged a licence for both fixed and mobile services. With major expansion plans in the offing for both Delhi and Mumbai circles, MTNL is also scouting for equipment vendors. "We are here in Singapore to locate vendors and see what opportunities are available here,'' Mr Girotra said.

While the company is already implementing four lakh lines each in Mumbai and Delhi for cellular services on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) platform, an equal number of Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) lines will be added in the two cities this year.

The equipment for expansion is being provided by Motorola for GSM and HFCL-Huawei for WLL services. MTNL plans to add 10-lakh lines GSM cellular connections each in Delhi and Mumbai next year.

The company has nearly 2.2 lakh mobile subscribers each in Delhi and Mumbai at present and is facing a crunch on new pre-paid connections.

"With new connections being released by next month, we hope to be able to overcome the shortage of pre-paid cards and offer all services to our customers,'' Mr Girotra said.

More Stories on : Off-shore Development | Telecommunications

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Nokia, Nortel set to bag BSNL contract

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line