MTNL withdraws application for ILD licence

MTNL has withdrawn its application to the Department of Telecom (DoT) seeking an international long-distance (ILD) licence on grounds that the existing market did not offer much business opportunities.

The move comes at a time when multinational telecom majors such as AT&T and British telecom are lining up for an ILD licence.Senior MTNL officials said that the company does not need an ILD licence at present and would continue to route its international traffic through private operators.

Company officials said that the withdrawal did not mean that the company was not interested in taking an ILD licence at any point of time. They said that it can re-apply if the business case improves.The ILD segment has players such as Reliance, VSNL and Bharti.

A number of other players have expressed interest to enter the fray to take advantage of the lower entry fees.

Meanwhile, MTNL is going ahead with its 51:49% joint venture with BSNL for laying a submarine cable through Millennium Telecom Ltd, which will oversee the building and operating of the undersea cable business of the PSUs.