MTNL may sell 50-per cent stake in Sri Lankan telco Suntel
19 Mar 2008
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is holding talks with potential buyers to offload 50-per cent stake in Sri Lankan telecom firm, Suntel.
MTNL has been shortlisted as the preferred bidder to acquire Suntel as its 100 per cent subsidiary.
Since Suntel is a profit-making company, MTNL wants to retain its existing structure with regard to all its policies and MTNL believes that this can be achieved only if the stake is limited to 50 per cent.
MTNL has been planning to expand its business overseas as part of its growth strategy and also due to shrinking domestic opportunities due to strong competition from other players.
Suntel is a profit-making CDMA technology-based fixed-line telephony service provider in Sri Lanka, having a subscriber base of around 3,00,000.