MTNL expects 280 Crore revenue from 3G roaming agreements

Monday, 26 July 2010, 14:45 IST
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Bangalore: State-owned MTNL on Friday said it expects an annual revenue of about Rs 280 crore from roaming agreement with other telcos for 3G services. MTNL had invited bids from operators, who could not get 3G spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai under the auction held in May this year, to provide roaming facilities to their 3G subscribers through the PSU's network. "We are expecting about Rs 280 crore in revenue through roaming agreements with other operators," MTNL CMD Kuldeep Singh told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of a Global Telecom Summit, 2010, organised by Assocham. An Expression of Interest (EoI) has already been floated for this, he added. No operator other than Bharti, Vodafone and Reliance Communications succeeded in getting 3G spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai. Other operators, who have got 3G spectrum in the rest of the circles except these two metros, cannot make their operations viable without having services in these two key circles. "We are looking at a huge business opportunity in this and have invited bids from two operators each in Delhi and Mumbai," Singh said. State-run telcos MTNL and BSNL were given 3G spectrum nearly a year ahead of other operators. MTNL does not want two-way roaming, as it enjoys an exclusive roaming agreement with its big brother, BSNL, throughout the country. The company also expects an additional Rs 40-50 crore to be accrued annually from monetising its real estate assets. "We have already started leasing out parts of a property in Mumbai and will give out more space from other offices. This should bring in about Rs 40-50 crore annually to the company," Singh said.
Source: PTI