After BSNL, DoT mulls monthly review of MTNL performance

After BSNL, the telecom ministry is now mulling reviewing the performance of top MTNL officials on monthly basis to script a turnaround story.

"Yes we have decided to assess the performance of top MTNL officials on monthly basis as we had decided to do it on BSNL officials," a top DoT source said.

"The main idea to adopt monthly review policy is to galvanise non-performing officials. We believe this will keep officials on their toes to produce results," he added.

The company in financial year 2010-11 showed improvement in its revenue. In FY11, its total income rose to Rs 3,841.2 crore as against Rs 3,781 reported in FY 2009-10.

However, the company posted a net loss of Rs 2,826 crore, up 8.27% from Rs 2,610.9 crore in the same period previous year.

Keeping in mind the losses faced by MTNL, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has decided to transfer officials who fail to achieve revenue targets.

"We will shift non-performing officials to DoT or transfer Mumbai officials to Delhi and vice versa," the top DoT source said.

Profit from the cellular service of MTNL has also been declining drastically. In FY11, loss of the company in this segment increased more than 10-fold from a profit margin of Rs 34.73 crore to Rs 346.47 crore loss.

The latest report of Trai on telecom subscription shows that the company added only 367 new mobile subscribers in the month of April.

The company had been facing cash crunch and hence decided to restructure its Rs 7,000 crore loan taken for buying 3G and BWA spectrum last year.

The company is learnt to have restructured Rs 3,500 crore of debt, repaying Rs 500 crore and tying up with two state-run banks for the rest Rs 3,000 crore.

The company, however, got a income tax refund of Rs 177 crore for the last fiscal.