MTNL lines up 1,500 cr for 2008

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the success of its broadband services both in Delhi and Mumbai, state-run MTNL on Wednesday said the company has lined up Rs 1,500 crore investments to expand GSM and broadband operations.

"We will expand broadband capacity by 10 lakh connection both in Delhi and Mumbai together. The capacity will be scalable to 20 lakh. Besides, we are also planning a major expansion of our GSM mobile network especially in Mumbai," MTNL chairman and managing director RSP Sinha said.

MTNL currently has 5.5 lakh connections both in Delhi and Mumbai, beating private competitors.

The telecom operator would be investing Rs 1,500 crore in 2008, Sinha said, adding that amount could go up by another Rs 200 crore depending upon the capacity requirement.

MTNL, however, is facing problems in the GSM mobile services in the Mumbai circles as the capacity could not be added in time by ITI, a PSU which got the contract under reservation quota.

Sinha said that the telecom operator has planned to add 10 lakh GSM subscriber capacity in Mumbai and till the networks were put in place, MTNL has decided to divert some of the Base Terminal Stations (BTS) from Delhi to Mumbai.

With this, MTNL would have a capacity to serve at least two lakh GSM connections immediately to meet demand in the financial hub of the country, he said.