MTNL may join race for Rwanda Telecom

Eyeing overseas acquisition in a big way, the state-owned Mahangar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is likely to bid for the Rwanda Telecom which is being put on divestment by the African country.

The company has already got the board approval to bid for the stake of Rwanda Telecom for which the government of Rwanda has called for global bidding. "We have also received an in-principle nod to get it evaluated," senior officials said.

"We are getting it evaluated internally. The due diligence is on", they added.

Rwanda is planning to divest between 51-100 per cent stake in the entity that has 25,000 fixed line connection network.

The winner of the bidders will also be given a free mobile network licence to operate in the country, they said.

Indian private telecom operators may not be eligible for the bidding as the eligibility criteria wants the operator to be a fixed line provider for a minimum five years.

If successful in acquiring a controlling or the 100 per cent stake in Rwanda Telecom, this would be MTNL's first acquisition abroad where it would be an operator.

So far, the PSU has bagged licences in Mauritius and Nepal and is awaiting for the licence in Kenya.

For the Mauritius service, tenders will be floated next week and services will be started by November, sources said.

MTNL bagged three licences in Mauritius for fixed, mobile, and international long distance services.

It has set up a 100 per cent owned subsidiary in Mauritius under the name Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd.

In Nepal also, MTNL has tied up with other partners including VSNL and TCIL for offering WLL-based mobile services.

MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai and due to restrictions in operational geography, it has been eyeing overseas markets for growth.