Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Jul 16, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Jul 16, 2004 |
||
|
|
||
|
Info-Tech
-
Telecommunications Government - Policy Govt rejects BSNL plea to enter Delhi, Mumbai — Puts off merger plan Our Bureau
New Delhi , July 15 THE Ministry of Communications has put off the proposal to merge Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd even as it shot down the former's plan to foray into the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai telecom markets. BSNL had applied for a licence for the two circles last month. The Minister of State for Communication, Dr Shakeel Ahmad, in a written response in Rajya Sabha on Thursday said, "There is no proposal to merge BSNL and MTNL. BSNL had sought licence for entering on telecom circle in Delhi and Mumbai and the request has not been granted." The decision comes as a blow to BSNL that has been demanding for expanding its network into the two metro cities for the last few years. According to senior company officials the flexibility to operate in Delhi and Mumbai would have enabled the telecom major to compete with private national players such as Reliance Infocomm and Bharti. "At present, the only handicap for BSNL is its inability to offer nationwide telecom solutions to its customers. We have to depend on MTNL for extending our services in Delhi and Mumbai. This puts us at a disadvantage when compared to other large operators which have a national footprint," said a BSNL official. Delhi and Mumbai together accounts for almost 5 million fixed line users and over 6 million cellular subscribers. The proposal to merge BSNL and MTNL was first mooted by the then Communications Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, on grounds that it did not make sense for geographical bifurcation of companies. The Department of Telecom had set up a high level committee to look at the pros and cons of a merger. Several merchant bankers and analysts had also given their opinion in favour of a merger. The Communications Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, had also met some of the former BSNL chairmen to take a view on the matter. The merger was seen as beneficial to MTNL as it would have enabled the cash rich company to invest in markets beyond the two metro circles. Senior MTNL officials said that the company would now look at investing in the international market. It is in the process of taking a licence in Rwanda and is rolling out telecom network in countries like Nepal. The two PSUs, however, can take comfort in the unified licence regime expected to be finalised by year-end. As per the proposed regime, operators can take a single licence and offer any telecom service using any technology in any part of the country. If the Government does not put a bar on BSNL and MTNL, then the two companies would be able to take a unified licence and offer services wherever they want.
More Stories on : Telecommunications | Policy
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
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
|