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VSNL to get more for early monopoly-end

The Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd hopes to get additional compensation in exchange for an early end to its monopoly over international voice calls, the firm's chief said.

"We are hopeful that the revenue share which the government will get from new international operators once the monopoly ends will come to VSNL at least for a period of two years," the firm's chairman and managing director, S K Gupta, told reporters.

"This has not yet been announced, but we are hopeful it will be," he added.

The state-owned overseas telephony provider is set to lose its monopoly over international voice traffic by April next year.

The government last year announced a premature end to VSNL's monopoly and said the firm would be compensated in exchange for the business being opened up for competition.

The compensation package announced by the government includes an all-India license to operate Internet access business and free entry into domestic long-distance telephony.

The firm will also be exempt from paying a 15 per cent revenue share to the government on income from its long-distance telephony business and from submitting a Rs 2-billion bank guarantee.

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