Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) ( d/b/a MTNL) is a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited which is in turn under the

ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

of Department of Telecommunications,

Ministry of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. Headquartered in New Delhi, India. MTNL Provides services in the metro cities of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and in the island nation of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It had a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

in Mumbai and New Delhi until 1992, when the telecom sector was opened to other service providers. "Transparency makes us different" is its motto. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited currently holds 100% of its stock. . , it has 3.28 million subscribers. It is also a wholly owned

of a central public sector unit.

Name

It has its name derived from

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

: ''mahanagar'' meaning "metropolis" (''maha'' "big", ''nagar'' "city") and ''nigam'' meaning "corporation".

History

Bombay Telephone was founded in 1882. The first telephone exchange in Mumbai began operations on 28 January 1882. Delhi's first telephone system was established in 1911. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam was created by the Government of India in 1986 to oversee the telephone services of Delhi and Mumbai.

Products

Telephone and Mobile

MTNL provides fixed line telephones and WLL services. It also provides mobile services on GSM and CDMA platforms. MTNL various service brands are: :''Dolphin'' – a postpaid GSM service which also provides value added services such as 3G, :''Trump'' – a prepaid GSM service, similar to Dolphin, :''Garuda'' – a WLL service which provides an ''FW'' tariff, and a ''Mobile'' tariff Phone numbers belonging to MTNL start with the prefix 2 in fixed line telephones and WLL. In GSM, mobile numbers start with the prefixes 901x, 9757, 9868, 9869, 9968, and 9969. MTNL's efficiency has drastically improved over the years. In the past, a customer had to wait much longer to secure a connection but now he/she can receive a connection within hours of the subscription request being filed.

Spectrum frequency holding summary

MTNL owns spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands across two circle of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

3G Mobile Service

MTNL started 3G services in

under the name of "MTNL 3G Jadoo." Services offered include

video call Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

ing, mobile TV and

mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartphone (possibly Tetherin ...

with high speed data connectivity up to 3.6 Mbit/s from 11 December 2008. MTNL plans to offer 3G services across India by mid-2009. MTNL also provides 3G data cards for usage in devices other than mobile phones. MTNL will be installing 15 lakh 3G lines in the first phase of its 3G roll-out in

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

(which currently have 40 lakh existing mobile lines). MTNL announced in Jan, 2012 that they will upgrade its 3G network to more advanced HSPA+ with download speeds up to 28.8Mbit/s before the end of 2012. MTNL rolled out its

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

solutions on the 2G and 3G networks by launching India's first 3G-enabled BlackBerry Bold smart phones.

Broadband and FTTH

MTNL is the largest ISP in Mumbai and Delhi (in terms of market share), and the third largest ISP in India though it has presence just in two circles. MTNL provides ''TriBand'' Internet services through

dialup Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...

and DSL. It provides games on demand, video on demand, and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...

services in India through ''TriBand''. TriBand is targeted at homes and small businesses. MTNL began offering fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)

triple play In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season. Th ...

(voice, video, and data) high speed broadband service in Delhi on 9 November 2011. FTTH, with core network speed up to 1 Gbit/s, was launched in Mumbai on 1 March 2012. MTNL FTTH Broadband offers several services based on triple play services like IPTV, HDTV, 3DTV, video on demand, bandwidth on demand, instant video conferencing, interactive gaming and several other value added services. In 2004, telecom regulator TRAI mandated a minimum speed of 256 kbit/s for all broadband connections. MTNL increased the minimum speed of all its broadband plans to 512 kbit/s from existing 256 kbit/s, effective 26 January 2012, becoming the first ISP in India to opt for a minimum broadband speed from 256 kbit/s to 512 kbit/s, without any mandatory regulation. On 12 November 2013, MTNL announced that it would upgrade the speed of all its existing unlimited broadband plans in Mumbai to a minimum of 1 Mbit/s, at no additional cost. MTNL also provides other services such as VPN,

VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

, and

leased line A leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. Typically, leased lines are used by ...

s through BSNL and VSNL.

Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML)

MTNL has set up a wholly owned subsidiary called Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML) in

, providing mobile and international long distance services. MTML is the second operator in

. Necessary licenses were obtained in January 2004. MTML has already started its

ILD ILD may refer to: Organizations * Independent Lutheran Diocese a small Confessional Lutheran Association in the United States. * International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, a minister-level department of the Chinese governm ...

& CDMA based basic services in Mauritius. In Mauritius, 44,312 telephone connections are operational from a total switching capacity of 50,000. Moreover, through joint ventures with local telecommunications providers, MTML planned to offer Internet access through its wireless network by February 2009.

Merger with BSNL

On the 23rd day of October 2019, the

announced revival package for BSNL and MTNL which includes monetising assets, raising funds, TD-LTE

spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

, voluntary retirement scheme for employees. Apart from package,

decided to merge of MTNL with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. Pending this, MTNL will be subsidiary of BSNL.

Joint Ventures

MTNL-STPI IT Services Limited

MTNL-STPI IT Services Ltd. is a 50:50 joint venture between Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, (MTNL).

Millennium Telecom Limited (MTL)

MTNL has restructured Millennium Telecom Ltd. (MTL) as a joint venture company of MTNL and BSNL with 50% and 50% equity participation respectively. The company will now be entering into new business stream of international long distance operations and will be executing a project of submarine cable system, both east and west from India.

Telephone Advisory Committees

Telephone Advisory Committees also known as TAC is an Indian Government body made up of Members of parliament and nominated members by the

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India) The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology was an Indian government ministry. It was bifurcated into Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July 2016. It contained three departments ...

to address issues concerning telecommunication in India. Looked upon as a privileged panel, the Telephone Advisory Committees (TAC), constituted by the

of the

to serve as a vital feedback mechanism for improvement of services in the Telecommunications sector by the Department of Telecommunications

List of TAC Members

References

External links

MTNL Official website
{{authority control Companies based in New Delhi Internet service providers of India Telecommunications companies of India Telecommunications in Mauritius Mobile phone companies of India Indian companies established in 1986 Government-owned companies of India Government-owned telecommunications companies 1986 establishments in Delhi Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange