Once
India's showcase telecom service provider, the Delhi and Mum bai operator,
Mahanagat Telephone NIgam (MTNL) is finding the goings tough as its competitors
are flourishing despite the scorching heat in the telecom sector. The
state-owned company, which shined in the ancient regime, is also having a
hard time in trying to save its huge existing business. Not only that, MTNL's
track record of exploiting the new and huge wireless opportunies too hasn't
been really impressive, especially when seen in the context of what rookies have
been able to achieve.
MTNL's financial results for FY 200405 buttress this argument. The
company registered an 18.38 percent drop in its net profit for FY 2004-05 at Rs
938.97 crore (Rs 1150 crore in 200304). MTNL's net income from services
declined to Rs 5,592.38 crore, a drop of 12.19 percent. While the company
registered good growth in its mobile services business, it was way below the
industry standards.
|
|
| CMD: RSP Sinha |
| Area of Operation:
Mobile services, broadband and fixed telephones, enterprise data services |
| Address:
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Jeevan Bharti Building,
Tower-I, 12th Floor, 124 Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001 |
| Phone: +91
11 23742212 |
| Fax: +91
11 23739056 |
| Website: www.mtnl.net.in |
|
|
|
| V&D
estimates |
CyberMedia
Research
|
|
| Highlights |
| |
MTNL's fixed line business slipped |
| |
MTNL added 521,146 mobile subscribers, taking the subscriber base to 881,696 |
| |
Relaunched its GSM services in Delhi and Mumbai a few months ago |
| |
Broadband services picking up. The company had close to 38,500 broadband subscribers by the end of March 2005 |
|
The income from mobile services went up by 53.70 percent to Rs 287.04 crore
during the year. MTNL added 521,146 mobile subscribers, taking its subscriber
base to 881,696.
However, to be fair to MTNL, it did make impressive gains in FY 200405 in
many areas. For instance, ever since the company relaunched its GSM services in
Delhi and Mumbai a few months ago, it has been able to add mobile subscribers at
a faster pace and at many times, giving its competitors from the private
enterprise a run for their money. MTNL's broadband services are also picking
up. The company had close to 38,500 broadband subscribers at the end of March
2005.
The cutthroat competition, in the garb of price wars, would keep making life
tougher for MTNL in the years to come. The best way MTNL can survive and
flourish is by doing two key things. One, it must consolidate its existing fixed
line business by offering more value to its customers. The same holds true for
its corporate customers. Two, it must more aggressively tap the huge mobile and
broadband opportunity.
Mobile services and broadband surely present a huge opportunity for MTNL. And
if it has to survive amid the din of competitive roller coaster, it must focus
on improving the quality of its services and offerings; and more so on
aggressive marketing.
A recent TRAI report found that MTNL was way behind the private service
providers in terms of the quality of service (QoS) parameters for landlines.
According to the QoS survey for the quarter ending March 2005, MTNL failed to
meet TRAI's benchmark. This benchmark requires that fault incidences per month
per 100 telephones should be less than three in all its circles.
Besides that, marketing remains the weakest point of MTNL. The operator must
make a break from the past on this and redraw its marketing strategy and
overhaul the delivery systems. On several occasions-while consumers find all
operators same-those with better marketing strategies tend to win over the
customers.
Next Page : "Being a PSU, we are constrained by certain guidelines"
Page(s) 1 2
Print
Comment
Email
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
