In a major overseas initiative, the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has bagged three licences for offering fixed, GSM-based mobile and international long distance services in Mauritius and plans to invest up to $18 million in the first phase.

"We have set up a 100 per cent owned subsidiary in Mauritius under the name Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd," MTNL CMD R S P Sinha said.

"We are organising the set up there. We should be starting rolling out network soon. We plan to start services within next six months," Sinha said adding that once this company is set up this can be used as a launching pad for tapping African countries.

Initially MTNL plans to set up network for 50,000 lines (upgradable for 100,000 lines) based on CDMA technology, Sinha said, adding: "We are talking to Qualcomm for having dual model handsets which could be used for international roaming on CDMA."

This, however, is yet to be finalised, he said.

"The potential in Mauritius is tremendous. Although the tele density is quite high, it is lower than other tourist destinations like Singapore," he said.

This is MTNL's second overseas venture after Nepal where the company has tied up with other partners including VSNL and TCIL for offering WLL based mobile services.

Sinha said MTNL expected to get a favourable response to its services in Mauritius on account of significant Indian community based in the tourist island.

Sinha said GSM based mobile service would be required for offering international roaming. "For this purpose we want to procure dual model handsets so that international roaming could be offered on CDMA based phones using a SIM card when the customer travels out of the country."

At present France Telekom has been offering the communication services in Mauritius.

Asked about the source for investment, Sinha said the investment of $15 million to $18 million for the first phase would be funded from the internal accruals.

He also said that the venture in Mauritius would be an experience for the company especially in the international long distance services as this is the only area in which MTNL did not have presence in the domestic operations.

In India MTNL offers a slew of telecom services spanning GSM, WLL and fixed line operations in the two metros of Delhi and Mumbai.