Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) may hive off its long-distance business into a separate company with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) picking up equity in the joint venture.
The new company may also be given the licence for international long-distance (ILD) services.
Sources in the ministry of communications told Business Standard while the government intended to go ahead with the proposed BSNL-MTNL merger plan, the BSNL-MTNL joint venture for long-distance services was an option now being considered.
Explaining the rationale for merging the long-distance businesses, officials said MTNL needed to expand its portfolio to long-distance services and BSNL needed to be present in the international long-distance segment.
