MTNL to apply for NLD licence

State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) plans to invest over Rs 2,000 crore for expansion of services and spend Rs 100 crore on acquisitions.

The PSU also plans to apply for a national long-distance licence and will take a call on entering China and Africa before the end of this quarter.

"MTNL is set to invest Rs 2,298 crore in the next financial year for expansion and upgrade of services. Of this, Rs 1,200 crore will be for expansion of mobile services. Part of the investment will be for laying optical fibre cables," Anita Soni, director, finance, MTNL, told reporters today.

The company is also keen on entering the national long-distance telephony for which it has approached the Department of Telecom (DoT).

"When the company was formed in 1986, the licensing provisions permitted NLD operations. We have to see if they apply now. The DoT will decide on the issue," Soni said.