Bharti, Reliance Infocomm and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) have all bid for MTNL’s Rs 600 million tender to carry and deliver outgoing STD calls. Rates of less than Re 0.20 and Re 0.65 per minute have been received for carriage charges, depending upon the distance slab. However, BSNL, the original carrier, has still not bid. MTNL officials felt that BSNL was charging higher rates for the service at Re 0.65 and the company could save around Rs 4 billion by inviting competitive bids.
BSNL’s main advantage is that it is able to terminate STD calls even in remote areas. However, more than 95 per cent of MTNL’s calls are terminated in cities and towns where other NLD players have networks. So MTNL plans to carry 95 per cent of the traffic through the lowest bidder and the remaining through BSNL.
