VSNL H1 net down by 4.66%

BANGALORE, October 23: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) net profit dipped by 4.66 per cent to Rs 701.7 crore during April-September 1999. The decline was largely due to net profit in Q2 of 1999-2000 falling to Rs 346.6 crore from Rs 424.7 crore in the corresponding period last year.

VSNL chairman and managing director S. K. Gupta claimed,"The sustenance in net profit reflects the efficiency of the company to work under strenuous conditions.'' An important aspect for VSNL is the strong and sustained growth in non-telephony value-added services, he said, pointing out that revenues from value-added services added up to Rs 295 crore in the first half of 1999-2000.

VSNL's operating profit excluding other income, during 1999-2000 first half has risen by 9.96 per cent to Rs 888.8 crore from Rs 808.3 crore last year. VSNL said that it is making an investment of Rs 44 crore for establishment of additional gateway exchanges at Kanpur, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The availability of ATM switches in the gateway switches and transmission facilities of SDH via optical fibre and satellite will provide VSNL with adequate infrastructure for building and connectivity to international super highway system for information transfer.

The company also announced that it was considering an initial investment of $10 million in a $14 billion "Project Oxygen'', a super Internet with 32,000 km global optical fibre submarine cable network. Project Oxygen has been conceived by US-based telecom startup, CTR group. The cable network based on asynchronous mode technology will connect most of the countries in the world.