Thursday 17 January, 2008

BSNL has no IPO plans: Govt

State-owned telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has no plans to come out with an initial public offer in the immediate future, a government statement said on Thursday.

"The matter will be discussed internally in the ministry and with the stake holders (government), and then, a suitable decision will be taken in this regard. An IPO for BSNL will be issued if considered appropriate," the statement said.

Last week, BSNL had said that the public sector unit would come out with an IPO, diluting 10 per cent stake to raise over Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) to fund its expansion plans, and had valued the company at over $100 billion dollars (over Rs 400,000 crore).