MTNL plans to offer ILD services soon

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is planning to start international long distance (ILD) services by the end of the current financial year. "We are taking necessary measures to make the service operational by March 2005," R S P Sinha, chairman and managing director, said. The service would be a value addition, he added.

The service, however, will not add much in terms of revenue for the public sector telecom service provider. "There is high competition in the ILD market. We don't think the service would contribute significantly to our revenue," Sinha said.

"The new service would affect the company's bottom line because of its basic customer base," he added. MTNL would gain out of the business as it can save in terms of termination charges for calls terminating in its own network.

At present, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), Data Access, Bharti and Reliance have international long distance networks. MTNL acquired the ILD licence recently.

Sinha also said MTNL would start broadband services by December 2004. The telecom major had invited bids for installation of 50,000 asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) each in Delhi and Mumbai, for broadband services.

"The financial bids were opened on Friday and a final decision will be taken in a week," Sinha said. He also said that all the major vendors had participated in the bidding. At present, MTNL has a capacity of 1,000 lines each in Delhi and Mumbai offering high speed internet connectivity.

In the second phase, tenders for installation of about 2.7 lakh ADSLs would be invited in near future.

The company is targeting to add 4 lakh global system for mobile lines each in Delhi and Mumbai to its existing capacity of 2.5 lakh lines each in the two metros.

"About 30 per cent of the project will be completed by September this year," Sinha said. Motorola had been awarded the contract for providing equipment for these lines.