The chairman of the committee on public undertakings, V Kishore Chandra Deo, said in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar that despite categorical instructions, Goyal did not attend the meeting, sources said.
A consortium comprising India's telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL, among others, on Monday said it has started negotiations for acquiring control of Kuwait's biggest phone company Zain Telecom that has presence in 24 countries.
A merger between state-run telecom firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd is the best option because it would create the country's largest telecom company, said Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL.
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 will use the investment for mobile expansion and for services like 3G, broadband, wireless broadband, IPTV, WiMAX, mobile commerce (m-commerce), value-added landline, Enterprise Resource Planning and others.
State-run BSNL Friday said it may directly talk to Zain Telecom to acquire a controlling stake after the exclusive talks period between the consortium Vavasi and the Kuwaiti firm ends.
One lesson the government should learn from the Air India-Indian Airlines merger fiasco is that combining two sick people ends up making them sicker.
This will push the size of the division to 25,000. Pitroda panel had suggested BSNL to cut staff strength by 100,000.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd chairman Kuldeep Goyal has been trying to get a foothold in Africa since February this year when the government allowed the state-owned giant to pursue business opportunities in that continent. The five-month old search continues; Goyal says BSNL is looking at acquiring stakes or licences in African markets as and when they are put up for sale.
Asked if BSNL is looking to approach Zain directly, he said "no further progress as far as this proposal on Zain is concerned".
State-run telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has placed an advance purchase order with Huawei of China on mobile equipment for 20 million GSM lines in the south zone. The PSU is also in advanced negotiations with Ericsson for the north and east zone.
The proposed merger between two state-run telecom giants -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited -- might have hit a roadblock, but both the companies plan to synergise their operations across the country.
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.
Although BSNL's profits would come under severe pressure as subsidy on rural operations has been withdrawn and the levy charged from private players (known as access deficit charge) would also be phased out from next year, yet Goyal was hopeful of meeting the requirement internally.
The state-owned telecom service provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has teamed up with mobile content developing company Mauj to launch its general pocket radio service portal, 'Funstation'.
Sandwiched between employees' threat of a strike and telecom minister A Raja's insistence to renegotiate the GSM expansion deal, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said on Friday it hopes to find a solution soon for ending the impasse.
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd is looking for joint ventures and tie-ups with content providers for its newly launched broadband services, Tri Band.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday said it will add 46,000 broadband connections in a month to finish the current fiscal with 85,000 broadband customers in Maharashtra and Goa circles.
The company's new chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal also said BSNL generated a revenue of around Rs 39,715 crore (Rs 397.15 billion) and net profit of about Rs 7,806 crore (Rs 78.06 billion) in 2006-07.
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