DoT issues LoIs for basic services

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications has issued 40 Letters of

Intent (LoIs) for basic services in the country, said Minister for

Communications Ram Vilas Paswan while inaugurating BSNL’s first WLL service in

Gurgaon. The beneficiaries are Reliance, the Tatas, and HFCL. These LoIs will be

converted into license agreements once these companies pay the requisite license

fee.

Reliance has bagged LoIs for 17 circles, Tatas (15), and HFCL (7). Reliance

has got LoIs for Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,

West Bengal, UP (East), UP (West), Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,

Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh and Assam.

Tatas has received Maharastra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,

Uttar Pradesh (east & west), Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,

Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat, while HFCL has got Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, and

four other circles.

BSNL warns of a bad year



Meanwhile, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has warned that its revenues
will stagnate at Rs 20,000 crore this year. Last fiscal, the company had a

turnover of Rs 20,405.83 crore. However, BSNL managing director attributed the

drop in revenue to the reduction in tariff by TRAI.

The company has already raised Rs 400 crore from the market for its expansion

plans in cellular and limited mobility services. It plans to provide around

13,500 limited mobility connections and 40,500 fixed wireless connections in

fiscal 2001.