Indian state-owned telecoms company Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has hired KPMG India for advice on transferring its tower assets to a new company, according to the Economic Times citing Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay, the company’s managing director.
The move…
Indian state-owned telecoms company Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has hired KPMG India for advice on transferring its tower assets to a new company, according to the Economic Times citing Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay, the company’s managing director.
The move is expected to facilitate leasing out BSNL’s 70,000 towers to private firms and generate more revenues for the struggling telco, the newspaper wrote.
Last week, it was also reported that the country’s telecoms ministry has revived talks to merge BSNL with another state-owned telco, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), in order to turn both companies around.
A merger between BSNL and MTNL has been in the pipeline since 2007, because the telcos have struggled to remain competitive in India’s crowded telecoms market.
Several other options have also been considered to boost their revenues, including the sale of BWA spectrum and of tower operations, but none of the proposals has so far been followed through.
