In the backdrop of intense competition in the sector, government on Tuesday asked telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL to reinvent themselves to react faster on aspects like tender processes.

Addressing the Gartner Telecom Summit in New Delhi, Communications Minister Arun Shourie said BSNL and MTNL have to charge themselves up and 'reinvent themselves so as to react faster in terms of tender process and work culture.'

BSNL, in turn, said providing access, especially in rural areas, was its forte and it was also looking at carrying out wholesale business like British Telecom.

"We will approach the Minister with the proposal that we should take the role of a service provider to the service providers, in terms of facilitating connectivity and bandwidth. We are gradually moving to that," BSNL's director-finance, S D Saxena, said.