MTNL plans to double mobile users by 2008

State-run MTNL, which operates in Delhi and Mumbai, today said it plans to more than double its mobile subscriber base to five million by March 2008 and is expanding capacity for the same.

At present, MTNL has 2.4 million mobile subscribers in both the metros and has created capacity for two million mobile connections in Mumbai and Delhi by 2007-08, MTNL CMD, R S P Sinha, said here after presenting dividend cheque of Rs 106 crore to Union Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran.

MTNL's sister concern BSNL plans to add 3 million mobile-subscribers monthly over the next three years to reach a mobile-subscriber base of 108 million. BSNL currently has a mobile-subscriber base of 24 million and operates in rest of the country except Delhi and Mumbai.

The MTNL CMD said the PSU has shown remarkable growth broadband subscriber base and the resulted revenue from that service, which has increased to Rs 135 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal from Rs 35 crore from the same period earlier.

With so much demand for broadband, We expect Rs 50 crore revenue from broadband in the fourth quarter, Sinha said adding MTNL would target to reach 20 million broadband subscribers by 2008 March from the current 4.30 lakh.

It currently has a waiting lit of 15,000 subscribers for broadband in Delhi and Mumbai together.

NYSE listed MTNL's growth targets are not unrealistic as the country gears up to reach a total telephone target of 650 million phones by 2012 and out of that 584 million is expected to be wireless.

Low tariffs of as low as two cents have caused a monthly addition of six million mobile subscriber addition each month the world's fastest growing wireless market.