India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has revived a proposal for the merger of state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL, reports the Business Standard. In its draft plan, the department while showing concern over the deteriorating performance of BSNL and MTNL said that BSNL and MTNL should be merged as they have complimentary operations and can combine their strengths for synergies. DoT said the government should set up a multi-stakeholder committee to develop a restructuring plan for both firms. The committee should have members from public enterprises, the DoT, department of IT and ministry of finance. The telecommunication operators should focus on enterprise business, services to government and the public sector, value-added services and technologies like 3G, the department recommends.
