Mauritius to get MTNL GSM in 6 mths

Five years after being granted the universal access service licence (UASL) for Mauritius, state-owned telecom major Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is ready to roll out its GSM based service in the island nation in six months.

MTNL already has CDMA services in Mauritius, where it has a subscriber base of 70,000. RSP Sinha, chairman and managing director, MTNL, said, “We will start our GSM operations in Mauritius in six months. We were looking to expand to countries such as Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. But the licence costs in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria looked unreasonably high. So we opted out of bidding for licences in those countries. We are looking into other geographies.”

The company has set aside Rs 300 crore for its foreign expansion. MTNL provides telecom services in Nepal through a partner, UTL, in which it has a stake of 26.6%, and in Mauritius through Mahanagar Telecom Mauritius, a 100% subsidiary.

MTNL has marked a capital expenditure of Rs 30 crore for its GSM services in Mauritius. Amita Soni, director (finance), MTNL, said, “We are providing initial support. For further growth, MTNL Mauritius is self sufficient and self sustaining.”
Meanwhile, MTNL is all set to become the first company to roll out the much talked about 3G services in Mumbai on June 1. Some analysts feel its 3G service is ‘very competitively priced’. A local video call from one MTNL number to another will cost Rs 1.80 per minute while calls to some other network will cost Rs 3 per minute.

MTNL’s 3G services, branded Jadoo, will allow users to access high speed internet on their mobile phones. Users will also be able to watch live TV, make video calls, play games and download music.

Nishna Biyani, an analyst with Mumbai based broking firm Prabhudas Liladhar, said, “The schemes may be very competitive and may help MTNL’s existing subscribers upgrade to 3G services. But the rate at which MTNL acquires new customers for its 3G services remains to be seen as marketing of services has always been a grey area for the company.” So far, the company has managed 500 subscribers for its 3G services in Delhi, where they were launched six months ago. Subscribers of its Trump and Dolphin services can access 3G services through their existing mobile numbers. 

In the March quarter, the company posted a loss of Rs 83.81 crore against a profit of Rs 219.9 crore in the same quarter the previous fiscal. In the quarter, operating margin fell to -7.01% against 20.05% in the year-ago period.