05-27-2004, 12:53 AM
<b>MTNL not to be privatised, says Communication Minister</b>
The state-run telecoms firm Mahanagar Telephone Nigam will not be privatised, the Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Wednesday, pushing the company's stock lower in a firm market.
The announcement is in line with the new coalition Government's plans to reverse the previous Govt's policy of privatising profit-making companies that underpinned a strong market rally in 2003.
New Delhi-based MTNL was one of about 15 state-run companies on the previous BJP-led coalition Government's privatisation agenda that had been on hold for the past year due to political and legal wrangles.
"It is off the privatisation list," the newly installed minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters in response to a question whether his ministry would work towards selling off MTNL.
Soon after the announcement, MTNL fell as much as 3.6 per cent to Rs 120, but later recovered to quote at Rs 123.40, still down one per cent. The main index was up 0.84 per cent. MTNL, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, provides fixed-line, mobile and Internet access in the two main cities of Delhi and Mumabai-- the largest telecoms markets in the country.
It competes with firms such as Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd and Reliance Infocomm Ltd
....
India's fragmented telecoms sector already has some of the lowest phone tariffs in the world as more than a dozen companies often resort to price cuts to lure more users.
The state-run telecoms firm Mahanagar Telephone Nigam will not be privatised, the Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Wednesday, pushing the company's stock lower in a firm market.
The announcement is in line with the new coalition Government's plans to reverse the previous Govt's policy of privatising profit-making companies that underpinned a strong market rally in 2003.
New Delhi-based MTNL was one of about 15 state-run companies on the previous BJP-led coalition Government's privatisation agenda that had been on hold for the past year due to political and legal wrangles.
"It is off the privatisation list," the newly installed minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters in response to a question whether his ministry would work towards selling off MTNL.
Soon after the announcement, MTNL fell as much as 3.6 per cent to Rs 120, but later recovered to quote at Rs 123.40, still down one per cent. The main index was up 0.84 per cent. MTNL, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, provides fixed-line, mobile and Internet access in the two main cities of Delhi and Mumabai-- the largest telecoms markets in the country.
It competes with firms such as Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd and Reliance Infocomm Ltd
....
India's fragmented telecoms sector already has some of the lowest phone tariffs in the world as more than a dozen companies often resort to price cuts to lure more users.