Just IN - MTNL Shares Surge, likely to Tie Up With Satyam & Rediff
2/9/00 10:23:00 PM
Source: Bloomberg News
New Delhi, Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. shares surged 7.4 percent after the company said it may tie up with Satyam Infoway Ltd., India's biggest private Internet service provider, and Rediff.com, to improve its web content.
The state-controlled phone company plans to get access to content from Satyam's web portal Satyam Online.com and Rediff.com's website, the country's first information and shopping web site, to improve its Bharat On-line service and help attract more subscribers.
'I am weak in content,' said S. Rajagopalan, chairman and managing director of MTNL. 'I want to improve on-line content,' by tying up with other content providers.
The company is hoping to get a bigger share of the growing number of Internet users in the country and the opportunities for revenues from e-commerce, analysts said.
There will be an estimated 2.6 million web users in the country by the end of this year, up from 535,000 at the end of 1998, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies. At present, MTNL has annual sales of 50 million rupees from Internet services.
The state-controlled company that provides fixed-line phone service in the two of India's biggest cities hopes to get permission from the government to set up its own Internet gateway access this week, said Rajagopalan.
At present, all Internet service providers including MTNL, access the Internet through Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., the state- controlled monopoly that provides overseas long-distance phone service. |
