What are the chances of VSNL losing its monopoly before 2004?
The date now stands at 2004 and I don’t foresee any change. The GDR issue was done on this commitment. A new government at the Centre won’t change things three governments have changed after India agreed to open up international telephony to competition in 2004, and all of them have honoured it. The year 2004 is also in line with theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) commitment. • How do you see VSNL after 2004? A major chunk of its revenues come from international telephony today. Telephony accounts for Rs 1,600 crore of VSNL’s business. Leased lines, internet and other services account for another Rs 350 crore. This is only 23 per cent. By 2005, I see both telephony, internet and value-added services contributing almost equally to the net revenue. In 2004, when the services are opened up, we will lose some market. But by then the teledensity would have increased from 17 million lines to 150 million lines. Each line brings us 100 minutes of traffic. So as the lines grow, our traffic will
