Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has formulated a voluntary retirement scheme for its employees expected to be rolled out in the next financial year.

Narendra Sharma, chairman and managing director, MTNL said on the sidelines of Frames 2003 that the scheme would be applicable to the various groups of employees in the organisation.

Sharma, however, refused to give details on the scheme but said that it would be announced shortly.

He said that an attractive package has been designed that would ensure that the targeted number of employees would go for it.

The state owned telecom company that provides basic telephony services in Delhi and Mumbai, employs around 57,000 in the two metros.

Arun Shourie, Union Minister for Information Technology, Telecom and Divestment said, "A consolidated package would be released at one go. We see no reason for non-acceptance of the package keeping in mind the wide acceptance of such packages in banks and the textile industry."

This would contribute towards the rightsizing of the organization that has been overstaffed for quite some time now.

On the issue of merging MTNL and BSNL, an idea primarily mooted by the former Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan, Shourie said that in his opinion both the organisation must first concentrate on fighting back competition.

A professional board is in place in case of both the companies that should strategise growth plans.

It was also announced that starting April 1, the tariffs for basic services will be revised and the calling party pays regime comes into effect.

Sharma told the reporters that like BSNL, MTNL had filed its new tariff structure with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the formal approval from Trai was expected by the end of the week.

He, however, refused to comment further on the issue. Sharma also said that there would be no incoming call charges on MTNL's mobile phone service, under the brand name 'Dolphin' with effect from April 1.