Mtnl Plans To Double Infotech Investments

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) will double its investments in information technology from Rs 10 crore in 1996-97 to Rs 20 crore this year, MTNL's new chairman and managing director, S Rajagopalan said on May 9.

The use of these technologies will help take customer services to a higher plane, Rajagopalan, who took up office on 5 May told Business Standard. As the waiting lists have been completely wiped out both in Mumbai and Delhi, my focus now will be to use technology for better billing, repair, accounting and customer services, he said.

Rajagopalan also hopes to focus on human relations and better customer interface. I am primarily a human resource man, he said. Rajagopalan, who has already met trade union leaders in Mumbai, plans individually meetings with others in Delhi to help him chalk out a course of action to improve the level of services.

 

To do this, I will have to sound the warning bells to all my employees, said Rajagopalan, referring to impending competition in basic services from private operators. The wolf (that is competitor) is not imaginary but right here at our doorsteps, he said. We have been tolerated as a monopoly for this long, but this won't be the case much longer.

Rajagopalan, who has been with DoT for about 30 years, was earlier the chief general manager of the Tamil Nadu circle. He hopes to bring transparency in MTNL's functioning.The first step towards better customer relations is to do what you say and say what you do, he said.

My commitments and plans, will be published and open to scrutiny... Rajagopalan feels that DoT is a strong pillar for MTNL providing expert advice and technical manpower.