Telco minister reportedly seeing positive results from turnaround effort. India's government this week said it is not planning to divest its stakes in state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL.
The Economic Times reported on Wednesday that during a session of the Lok Sabha – India's lower house of parliament – telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was asked whether he was drawing up a proposal to privatise the two operators as part of a broader turnaround strategy, to which he said no.
Shankar said the government is starting to make progress in its attempt to revive BSNL's and MTNL's fortunes.
"The results are positive," he said, according to the ET. "There is no proposal to disinvest them as part of [the] revival plan."
In August, India approved a plan to spin off BSNL's telecom towers in a bid to shore up its finances.
The government also paid BSNL and MTNL to surrender their CDMA spectrum. BSNL received 1.69 billion rupees (€24 million), while MTNL received INR4.58 billion.
That is a drop in the ocean compared to the losses the two telcos incurred in the fiscal year to March 2015. According to reports at the time, BSNL posted an unaudited net loss of INR72.65 billion (€1 billion), while MTNL's loss came in at INR28.93 billion.
India has been exploring the idea of merging BSNL and MTNL for years, and the latest rumours claim a tie-up is planned for December.
In September 2014, BSNL and MTNL were reportedly included on a government list of the 10 state-owned firms that make the biggest losses. A committee was formed to discuss various options of what to do about them, which included capital infusions, management overhauls, forming joint ventures, or shutting them down altogether.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about these new attractive offers by BSNL via comments with us.
The Economic Times reported on Wednesday that during a session of the Lok Sabha – India's lower house of parliament – telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was asked whether he was drawing up a proposal to privatise the two operators as part of a broader turnaround strategy, to which he said no.
Shankar said the government is starting to make progress in its attempt to revive BSNL's and MTNL's fortunes.
"The results are positive," he said, according to the ET. "There is no proposal to disinvest them as part of [the] revival plan."
In August, India approved a plan to spin off BSNL's telecom towers in a bid to shore up its finances.
The government also paid BSNL and MTNL to surrender their CDMA spectrum. BSNL received 1.69 billion rupees (€24 million), while MTNL received INR4.58 billion.
That is a drop in the ocean compared to the losses the two telcos incurred in the fiscal year to March 2015. According to reports at the time, BSNL posted an unaudited net loss of INR72.65 billion (€1 billion), while MTNL's loss came in at INR28.93 billion.
India has been exploring the idea of merging BSNL and MTNL for years, and the latest rumours claim a tie-up is planned for December.
In September 2014, BSNL and MTNL were reportedly included on a government list of the 10 state-owned firms that make the biggest losses. A committee was formed to discuss various options of what to do about them, which included capital infusions, management overhauls, forming joint ventures, or shutting them down altogether.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about these new attractive offers by BSNL via comments with us.
