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MTNL, BSNL panel to study possibilities of joint action

Thomas K Thomas

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd have set up a committee to jointly explore ways to roll out a range of telecom services.

The committee comprises of directors of finance, marketing and technical of MTNL, while BSNL is represented by senior officers upwards of the deputy director general level.

The move comes after the government had rejected the PSUs' applications for expanding their operations into circles other than their existing areas of operations.

Government officials told said that the first meeting of the joint committee was scheduled to take place later this month. They added that the third PSU Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd would be roped in at a later stage.

Earlier, the department of telecommunication had approved the setting up of a platform for the three telecom PSUs - MTNL, BSNL and VSNL-to look into the possibility of a joint rollout of various telecom services including cellular, basic and Internet data centres.

Sources said that there should not be any competition among the government-promoted agencies, instead they must leverage their expertise in specific domains to compete with the private sector.

According to sources, an investment of Rs 200 billion is required next year to meet the national target of installing 6 million basic telephone lines across the country.

If the investment can be shared by the three telecom majors then a suitable revenue sharing method can be arrived at.

They added that it was a waste of national resources that the three PSUs were independently rolling out basic operations in direct competition to each other. The joint roll out plan might also take the shape of a new joint venture company.

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