MTNL’s sustainability important for customers, market: CMD

MTNL’s sustainability as a “viable operator” is important both for customers and market, and the PSU has not lost its relevance even in the intensely-competitive telecom sector, the company’s Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar has said.

The comment assumes significance as loss-making telecom PSUs MTNL and BSNL are saddled with massive debt and have faced problems in clearing staff salaries in the recent past. A revival package is being worked out by the government to keep the two PSUs afloat, amid cut-throat competition in the telecom sector driven by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. “Even today, MTNL has over 50 per cent market share in landline for Delhi and Mumbai (circles), we also have a substantial market share in broadband. When it comes to mobile services segment, we have a lesser market share but customer is still looking for services of MTNL,” Purwar told PTI. He asserted that both from customer and market point of view, MTNL’s sustainability as a viable operator is required.