BSNL tie-up for broadband to be finalized soon

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 12 September 2002, 19:30 IST
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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said Thursday that it is close to clinching a deal with a company for starting broadband service in the country and projected a marginal growth in revenue during the current fiscal despite sharp downward reduction in tariffs.

KOLKATA: "We have already received a lot of response for our expression of interest invited recently and expect to finalize the deal with any one of them soon," Prithipal Singh, BSNL chairman and managing director, told reporters here on Wednesday. Singh said BSNL was expecting to launch video on demand service in all its networks by December this year. "We have already started trial run. The service will be initially launched in a few select cities and thereafter expanded gradually to all cities." Singh said a revenue of Rs 12500 crore was clocked even before the end of first half of current fiscal, and there was confidence that last fiscal's Rs 23,000 crore revenue figure would be reached. On the issue of raising funds through IPO, Singh said, "I don't see anything coming soon. At present there are talks of BSNL's merger with MTNL. If the merger materializes then only will the IPO come." He was quoted by a news agency that BSNL's convergent billing was taken back, but hoped that by this year end a vendor providing all services as total solutions to the people and corporate, would be appointed. He said there is urgent need of extending improved services to corporate customers. "Corporate customers need telecom services in a greater depth as they help in the economic growth of the country. It is said that a one per cent growth in telecom leads to three per cent growth in economy," he said. The CMD denied that there was any effect on revenue after introduction of internet telephony. "I don't think there will be any shift of revenue from land to internet telephony. It will only help in increasing the volume of market." He said bandwidth facility on demand would be launched soon, while rural areas would be provided connectivity through WLL. For launching cellular services in all state capitals by the first week of October, the CMD said all preparations had been made. "We are waiting for tariff rates from TRAI." Singh launched BSNL's internet telephony and a new mode of electronic payment of Calcutta Telephone bills through ATMs of ICICI Bank.