NEW DELHI, June 24: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering the option of adding two more metros of Calcutta and Chennai to the portfolio of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). In this scenario, MTNL would be spun off into an independent corporation which would handle the four metros - it already is in charge of the Delhi and Mumbai telecom circles.This proposal forms part of the major restructuring exercise of the DoT which is now being pursued with great urgency. The Telecom Commission is likely to discuss these options in its meeting to be held later this week as it is under tremendous pressure to restructure the DoT in order to be able to meet the competition from private players who are entering the market soon.The DoT is considering the option of increasing MTNL's portfolio and also granting it greater autonomy before the disinvestment in the corporation is undertaken. This stems from the view that the MTNL share would fetch better prices if it is granted some sort of autonomy and freed from excessive governmental interference in its day to day functioning. The exact formula of the autonomy is currently being worked out by the DoT.Though MTNL has not been identified as one of the Navratna PSUs, the Disinvestment Commission has favoured its disinvestment based on its healthy performances in the past. As per the recommendations of the Disinvestment Commission, MTNL has been identified as having great scope and has been shortlisted for being put up for disinvestment. In this exercise, the Commission has suggested that the MTNL be granted greater autonomy.MTNL has an equity base of Rs 600 crore of which till date the government has offloaded 34.27 per cent in three tranches. The Disinvestment Commission has suggested offloading another 14.73 per cent of its equity, amounting to another 88.3 million shares for disinvestment.The DoT is learnt to be in a hurry to work out its restructuring strategy. This is evident from the recent stance taken by the Communications Minister Beni Prasad Verma and the Telecom Secretary at the Asia Telecom exhibition held in Singapore last week.
