MTNL woos corporates with 'preferred' status, new services

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) Facing an ever increasing competition in the telecom sector by private players, state-owned MTNL is now looking to retain its corporate customer base by giving them a 'preferred' status and a host of new services like convergent billing, Wi-max and Fibre To The Home (FTTH).

In its presentation to the corporate customers, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) put forward its proposed services, their scope and benefits to woo its corporate clients, who have been tired of running from pillar to post because of the bureaucratic delays.

''All the corporates will be given a preferred status with a one stop concern redressal department. Also, being the system integrator, we will design the network according to the need of the individual clients,'' Executive Director A K Arora said in a 'open house session'.

We are also on the verge of doing away with securities and rentals, and all you will be charged for the services used, Mr Arora added.

In terms of new initiative, MTNL is looking forward to providing 3G (Third Generation Mobile services), convergent billing, NGN (Next Generation Network), Wi-Max and FTTH services to its subscriber base which stands at 15.5 lakh in landline, 13.5 lakh in GSM, 1.5 lakh in CDMA, 2.5 lakh broadband and 16000 lease lines. About 25,000 subscribers use GPRS services of the company.

Talking about the FTTH service, Mr Arora said, ''In the use of copper, the speed is governed by the distance and in a city like Delhi, this limits us to 2 MBPS speed if the distance of the customer is more than 4.5 kilometer. Whereas, optical fibre has unlimited bandwidth capacity. So, we are going for optical fibre or FTTH.'' The laying is going on, and the system is likely to be available by the end of this year, Mr Arora told UNI.

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