The Centre has asked BSNL to study the feasibility of setting up country's fourth\nsubmarine cable landing station on the eastern coast of Haldia, West Bengal.
Scheme likely to come into force by June or July this year; both PSUs have been losing revenues and market share.
The Delhi high court on Thursday extended its interim stay on award of contract by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for its Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) project, to add 45 million lines in its GSM network till February 12.
State-owned telecom major BSNL is understood to have finalised plans to cut the domestic mobile roaming charges to as low as Re 1 a minute for incoming calls and Rs 1.50 for outgoing calls.
State-run BSNL is likely to place a Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) mobile telephony order with the two winners of the contract - Ericsson and Nokia - by second week of May to increase the capacity of its network.
The company is to act as an ISP across rural areas for local entrepreneurs.
The telecom majors should focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales.
Unidentified gunmen abducted a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited official from his residence in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday.
"There is no plan to disinvest in BSNL," Telecom Secretary J S Sarma told reporters
The monopoly of state-owned service providers Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd in the public call office business is fast eroding.
Officially confirming the change in tack for the first time after months of speculation, Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL's chairman and managing director, told Business Standard, "Foreign partners definitely bring in some expertise that will help the company improve its performance."
BSNL would be the first company to introduce a prepaid system for broadband services. Under the new system, customers would be able to use the broadband service through their account from any BSNL phone across the country, provided they are carrying their own modem and have a valid prepaid coupon.
Bharat Snachar Nigam is mainly responsible for the increasing congestion between networks of cellular operators on points of interconnection
The government believes the listing especially of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited would help improve the company's image and promote its growth. BSNL sources said there will not be any fresh equity, but only offloading by the government. The company will not get any proceeds from the IPO.
The race for control of Kuwait-headquartered Zain Telecom has quickened with the Indian consortium led by Delhi-based Vavasi group saying it is willing to give a majority stake in the consortium to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, depending on which company gets government approval to go ahead with the deal.
Rural India is divided into 6000 blocks of population.BSNL has rights to 1000 blocks and has invited tenders for installing a WiMAX base station in each of those blocks to provide connectivity to villages. Rural India is divided into 6000 blocks of population. BSNL has rights to 1000 blocks and has invited tenders for installing a WiMAX base station in each of those blocks to provide connectivity to villages.
State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL have to recover a massive Rs 4,469 crore (Rs 44.69 billion) outstanding dues from states, centre, defence establishments and private subscribers, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is likely to register a lower profit of upto Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) in 2005-06 compared to over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the previous year.
Soon, Bharat Sanchar Nigam subscribers will be able to buy a branded PC on equated monthly installments, which can either be paid directly to the bank or can form a part of the telephone bill.
BSNL started rolling out 3G services in north and east zones in February 2009, gradually expanding it to 113 cities. It had garnered a total subscriber base of 10,733 during the first four months itself. Initially, there was less coverage in the cities. That was gradually improved to cover entire cities. Also, at the time of the launch, only four services were available -- video calling, video conferencing, mobile TV and mobile broadband.
Through messages via the BSNL network, the ministry plans to spread awareness among the public and ask people not to invest in suspicious companies.
"Private players are going only in those areas where there is a big market, whereas rural areas are by and large connected by BSNL. We are adding 20 million new lines this year to cover maximum foot print," minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot said during the Question Hour.
Telecom Regulatory Authority said on Friday that it is planning to cut access deficit charge for incoming international calls to Rs 2 a minute from the prevailing Rs 4.25 per minute.
In the first ever indication of a possible merger of two public sector telecom companies, MTNL and BSNL, the government on Thursday said it was appointing advisors for synergising their operations.
Public sector undertakings - MTNL and BSNL have not yet given any time frame for testing of services for interception of Blackberry services notwithstanding the December 31 government deadline for operators to comply with it or shut their services.
The move will require a one-time payment of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore (Rs 40-50 billion), for which DoT would give financial support, a senior official from the latter told Business Standard.
If BSNL were to take the minister's advice, the public sector company may have to reconsider disqualification of US equipment supplier Motorola and its Chinese partner ZTE from the tender -- a quarter of which was for rolling out 3G lines.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd have submitted alternate basic (landline) telephony tariff plans, pegging the rates much below the ceiling rates announced by TRAI
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