MTNL to add 2 million subscribers in two cities (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Addition of two million lines each in New Delhi and Mumbai has been planned by Indian state-run telecom company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd on its global system for mobile communications technology.
Addition of 200 telecom towers in New Delhi and 291 towers in Mumbai has also been planned by the company during the current fiscal year that ends March 31. Equipment to set up 500,000 additional broadband lines in New Delhi and Mumbai would be installed by MTNL.
According to junior Telecommunications Minister, Gurudas Kamat, out of the total two million, one million GSM capacities has already been commissioned in Delhi and Mumbai each, and remaining is under installation. Currently, MTNL has 784,000 broadband users in the two cities.
BSNL & MTNL merger put on hold-report (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A proposed merger between state-owned operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has reportedly been put on hold.
Minister of State Information Technology and Communications, Gurudas Kamat, said that ‘Since the enabling conditions for the suggested options are not appropriate enough to lead to a successful merger and considering the complexity of the issues involved, the restructuring of BSNL and MTNL has been put on hold for the time being.’
However, according to a separate news report, BSNL Chairman and Managing director Kuldeep Goyal has said that his personal view is that a merger between the two telcos would offer operational benefits, but that if the tie-up did not go ahead it would not pose a problem. If the merger does proceed it is expected that the combined entity would generate revenue of around INR390 billion (USD8.1 billion) per year, more than nearest rival Bharti Airtel, which has an annual revenue of around INR370 billion.
