New Delhi: The Union minister of telecommunications, Kapil Sibal said that they are moving towards merging both the state-owned operators, BSNL and MTNL. We will take it up with the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM), which will either be in January or early February, or then take it up with the Cabinet. I hope the synergies between the companies will help the single entity, Sibal said.
While MTNL provides telecom services in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL offers its services in the rest of the country. The Department of Telecommunications or DOT has already said that both the companies should merge.
Speaking at an event launching MTNL’s service to launch free roaming between Mumbai and Delhi, Sibal said that MTNL has been burdened by some decisions taken by the government. He waa referring to the government’s move to make the state-owned operators to buy 4G spectrum at commercially bid prices in an auction in 2010. The operator is now looking to return the spectrum to get back as much as Rs 4,500 crore.
We will clear the SUC issue before the eGoM meeting on January 27. It will be solved before the auction and the withdrawal date,” said Sibal. He also added that any decision that would be taken would hurt one set of players as spectrum has been bought at different prices at different times. “There are legacy issues. We will loom not to hurt one faction but also rationalise the sector,” he said.
Bureau Report
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