BSNL not part of group for Zain buy

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Indian state-run telecoms firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd have not joined a consortium seeking to acquire Kuwait's Zain, Minister of State for IT and Telecom Gurudas Kamath told Parliament on Monday.

Kamath's answer was in a written reply to a question submitted in parliament.

BSNL and MTNL have been considering partnering India's little-known Vavasi Group and Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary to take a 46 per cent stake in Zain.

BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal has said the firm would directly open negotiations with Zain to take the stake if the consortium's exclusive talks fell through.