Kuldip Singh to head MTNL

Kuldip Singh, director, technical, of telecom Kuldip Singh, director, technical, of telecom PSU MTNL, has been appointed the new chairman and managing director with immediate effect.

Singh would continue to hold the portfolio of Director (Technical). Singh has been given the charge for a period of three months. His appointment came after his predecessor R S P Sinha's tenure ended on January 9, this year.

When contacted, he confirmed receipt of an official communication in this regard. MTNL offers the entire gamut of telecom services -- basic, mobile, internet and long distance. It faces many big challenges in the midst of fierce competition from private telecom operators.

Set up by the government of India in 1986, MTNL is the leading telecom service provider in the metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

The government holds 56.25 per cent stake in it. With its operations in Delhi, Mumbai, Nepal and Mauritius, MTNL is the first service provider to launch 3G services in the country.

MTNL has continued to expand the footprints and make new offerings to maintain its leadership in telecom service space. The PSU has a customer base of over 8.2 million, including about 4.4 million GSM mobile connections.

The company has been facing severe pressure on its financials and had announced near 80 per cent decline in net profit for the second quarter ended September, 2009 and stood at Rs 20.58 crore (Rs 205.8 million) compared to Rs 91.49 crore (Rs 914.9 million) in the same period in 2008.