MTNL is exploring possibilities of investment in Chinese telecom market. Various telecom technologies/companies are being considered for this purpose so that a decision for acquiring stake can be taken, minister of state for IT and telecom Shakeel Ahmad said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
Besides, MTNL and BSNL are proposing to lay submarine optical fibre cable from the Eastern coast of India to Singapore and the plan is at a conceptual stage. The current preliminary indications are that the project is profitable, Ahmad said.
Even as the spectrum policy is still under consideration, the government is hopeful that some service providers may start rolling out third generation mobile services to offer voice, video and data at a higher speed in next fiscal.
While no timeframe has been fixed for introduction of 3G technology, some of the service providers may commence roll out of 3G services in the next financial year, he said. Separately, a group of ministers has been constituted to deal with vacation of spectrum from defence, he said.
"Formulation of spectrum policy taking into account all relevant factors is under consideration. This would include mainly the efficient and optimal utilisation of spectrum, allocation procedure, spectrum pricing and introduction of emerging technologies.
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group
© 2026