The move may prove a shot in arm for the Chinese firms such as Huawei and ZTE, who were not allowed to put in bids for the 5.5 million tender due to security concerns.
BSNL had proposed to dilute 10 per cent of the government's equity holding through an IPO to raise about $10 billion. However, the offering was put off amid opposition from the employees union. The company is yet to decide on a bidder for the western region.
Eager to expand its footprint overseas, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said on Tuesday it has a war-chest of about $6 billion (approximately Rs 30,000 crore) and is looking for acquisitions, especially in South Africa. The PSU is looking at Africa as an area of focus as it is an emerging region and also culturally, financially, African countries suit more to India firms.
A VSNL statement at the Bombay Stock Exchange said that the completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent and is expected to be over in next few weeks.
Telecom equipment vendor Nokia-Siemens filed a case in the Delhi High Court today against its disqualification on technical grounds as a bidder for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's tender for 94 million lines, one of the world's largest telecom contracts worth over Rs 50,000 crore.
The BSNL board had last year approved a plan under which the government would divest 10 per cent of its shares to the public. But opposition from the unions backed by the Left parties -- which supported the United Progressive Alliance in the last Parliament -- had stalled the process. That opposition has abated, now that the Left is no longer a factor in the current ruling alliance.
An attempt is to be made over the next month to get over the opposition of staff unions to the Pitroda Committee recommendations on the revamp of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state telecom network outside Mumbai and Delhi.
Country's top telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on Friday welcomed the government decision to introduce mobile number portability saying it would make the sector more competitive. The government, on November 12, announced its decision to allow mobile users in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to switch their service provider while retaining the same number.
Nine people were injured in a string of terror attacks in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday.
The government on Friday said it had started talks with Japanese auto major Suzuki for offloading its remaining equity in joint venture Maruti Udyog Ltd.
Tensions between private telecom players and the government ratcheted up a notch after it was discovered that state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was given additional spectrum of up to 10 MHz for GSM technology services in over 16 circles even as private competitors have been waiting to be allotted spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications since December 2006.
Telecom operators in India currently provide 2G and 2.5 G services to subscribers. Last year, the government of India, through its enterprise -- BSNL -- soft-launched third generation or 3G services in Delhi.
The scheme, 'Maharashtra-Goa Unlimited', is being launched from August 1, Chief General Manager, BSNL Maharashtra Circle, Chandraprakash told reporters in Nagpur on Monday.
Department of telecommunications has set up a committee to look into the issue of escalating cost for the project.
The government is likely to set up a Group of Ministers (GOM) to take a final decision on divesting stake in the telecommunications company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Union leaders say that Raja only assured the members that a fresh tender for the second phase of the contract would be issued soon, but was unwilling to commit on other aspects of their demand.
The move to disinvest the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has united all central trade unions once again and they have called an indefinite agitation from April 19 against the move.
The telecom majors should focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales.
The company is in advanced stages of negotiations with four cellular operators and is expected to announce a couple of deals soon.
Half the money, to be invested over the next 12 months, will be used to expand its mobile network.
Reliance Infocomm chief Anil Ambani is understood to have raised a number of issues, including interconnection in telecom
The state-run telecom operator had recovered Rs 2,541.84 crore (Rs 25.41 billion) up to September 2012.
Employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will strike work on May 21 in response to a call by central trade unions to protest government's privatisation policy.\n\n\n\n
The United States has accused Tata group company VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd) of impeding competition for American companies in the bandwidth market by resorting to unacceptable pricing mechanism.
Unidentified gunmen abducted a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited official from his residence in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday.
Everyone loves to hate their mobile service providers. Here, A. Ganesh Nadar shares his recent experience of having a cellphone connection go from bad to worse while travelling.
Home minister heads several groups of ministers, including the one to decide the revival package for Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam. His ministry also takes decisive calls on national security in relation to telecom operations as well as equipment and technology used in the industry.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd said on Tuesday it is studying FLAG Telecom's claim of a monetary relief of about 406 million dollar and will file its response with the Tribunal in due course.
Bharti Airtel, India's largest private cellular operator, on Thursday announced an investment of over $2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) in 2007-08 to expand network.
The company aims to roll out wireless broadband connectivity through WiMax technology commercially this year, especially in urban areas. Initially, it will start its operations in three states -- Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
In yet another instance of evasion of levy, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has asked private operators Tata Teleservices and Reliance Infocomm to pay up the charges for positioning their fixed wireless phones as mobile services.
BSNL has slashed rates of all such calls from its landline network to the level of local call rates of Rs 0.80-1.20, depending upon the rate plan, with a pulse of three minutes.
Concerned over mobile signals crossing the international border, the department of telecom is planning to take action against telecom operators
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