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BSNL to invest Rs 75000 crore over 3 years

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Our Economy Bureau New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 06 2013 | 8:20 AM IST
The state-owned Bharat Sachar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today announced an investment of Rs 75,000 crore over three years for expansion of its services, including the broadband and mobile sector.
 
"Over three years we plan to invest over Rs 75,000 core to expand our network. While most of the expenditure is likely to be met from internal accruals, we are also examining other options. We have set a target of 125 million subscribers (including landline, mobile and broadband) in the next three years from the current 46 million," A K Sinha, chairman and managing director, told reporters.
 
BSNL would register a net profit of Rs 7,000 crore for 2004-05 against Rs 5,972 crore the previous year. The profit was likely to be less by Rs 208 crore on account of the new ADC regime which came into effect in February, said S D Saxena, director. Gross sales was likely to be around Rs 37,000 crore, he added.
 
On the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) recent proposal for further reduction in the access deficit charges (ADC), Sinha said BSNL had written to Trai against the move.
 
"Further reductions in ADC will make our operations, especially those in the rural areas non-sustainable," he said.
 
Sinha also admitted that the company had not achieved its stipulated targets for landline, mobile and broadband connections in 2004-05.
 
"This happened owing to the delay in the procurement of equipment. In the mobile and broadband sector, we did not estimate the demand to be so high," he said.
 
On the merger with MTNL, Sinha said the company's board had reached a consensus on the issue, and had submitted its reply to the options listed by ICICI-Securities. "The final decision rests with the department of telecommunications," he said.
 
On BSNL's demand that MTNL pay Rs 1,840 crore, Sinha said the company was awaiting MTNL's reply on the issue.
 
"MTNL has been using our network for the last three years, but has not paid us for the same. This figure has been calculated as per the prevailing charges," Saxena added.
 
He said that the company was not interested in tie-ups with private operators for sharing its network for roaming services. "We will examine this possibility after two years," Sinha said.
 
"Despite being the last player to enter the mobile sector, our network is available in most parts of the country. This is our unique selling point. Private players, however, only went into the big markets. We see no reason to share access on our network with them, said N K Mangla, director, commercial.

 
 

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