Telecom Lead India: In a bid to become profitable,
state-run MTNL will now offer voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to
about 20,000 employees.
The company has also approached the government for
surrendering its broadband wireless access (BWA) license for which it paid Rs
4,600 crore.
“Turnaround takes slightly longer time but we have
some items on our mind and working on those items. Number one is improving our
revenue services … we have already written a letter to the government asking
for surrendering of BWA license, we want that money back,” said A K Garg,
chairman and managing director MTNL.
He added that the company has paid Rs 4,600 crore for BWA
license and planned VRS to 19,000-20,000 people.
Furthermore, he said that the outgo should be some Rs
2,000-3,000 crore. There are many issues like staff pension issues. But
issues are known and few.
The company plans to restructure its loan book through
funding which it will get through sale of assets.
The company has also floated a tender
for 2G and 3G expansions in Mumbai and Delhi and it expects
to open that in two months.
Garg said, We should spend close to Rs 200 crore on this
for improvement of wireless network. We will be using ADSL
broadband for indoor network for 2G and 3G coverage also I expect these
products to start coming from December.”
State run telecom major MTNL may drop LTE 4G plans in India
MTNL had suffered a loss of Rs 929.7 crore for the quarter ended December,
2011. MTNL is also planning to drop its LTE 4G launch.
The company did not get bid from potential partners for
launching BWA / 4G / LTE services in Mumbai and Delhi circles. The decision to
cancel its LTE service is happening at time when Bharti Airtel launch 4G
service in Kolkata on April 10.
