BSNL eyeing overseas acquisition of telcos

After MTNL’s foray into Nepal and Mauritius, now its bigger counterpart BSNL is eying acquisitions of telecom companies abroad to get foothold in the global market.

“We are looking at expanding our business overseas through acquisitions of telecom companies abroad,” company’s CMD Kuldeep Goyal told PTI. He said the criteria of acquiring a company would depend on the due diligence undertaken by it but its strategy is going to both organic and inorganic growth to drive revenues.

Goyal said BSNL’s Articles of Association empower it to go for bidding of telecom licences abroad and acquire companies if they fit into its growth parametres synergistically apart from the right valuations. BSNL along with TCIL may bid for telecom licence in Tunisia, he added

Analysts said high competition, fall in earnings and expectations of a growing global telephony market is leading company to other geographies. As for BSNL, it is the capacity utilisation that lies unused, while the stress is to gain the first-mover advantage in newer geographies, they said.

MTNL already operates in Mauritius and Nepal. Recently, it lost in a number of bidding process in many countries like Saudi Arabia and Kenya.