MTNL: one man's trash another man's treasure

Yes, this is exactly the dilemma an investor will have as regards the shares of state run MTNL on June 23, which have rallied over 5 per cent. The shares as at 11.27 am are trading at Rs 21.80. The stock which is widely ignored by the larger chunk has proven to be a treasure for few. The shares in the last three months have gained as much as 26 per cent.  

Striving hard in competing with the private players, the state run telecom major MTNL has posted a net profit for the first time in Q4FY16 but has however failed to pull back its operational revenue on the green mark. Total operational revenue of MTNL has decreased by 4.26 per cent to Rs 835.79 crore for the quarter, from Rs 873.01 crore in the same quarter last year.

State-run telecom operator MTNL had posted a net profit of Rs 174.58 crore after surrendering 800 MHz of CDMA spectrum for Rs 428.95 crore in March 2016. MTNL has seen a continuous streak of losses since Q1FY15. In the preceding quarter, MTNL had reported a loss of Rs 704.93 crore and a loss of Rs 595.11 crore in the same quarter last year.

Amid competition from the major private sector giants, the company aims to be operationally profitable. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) provides fixed-line and other basic telecommunications services in Delhi and Mumbai. 

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited(MTNL) is a Government of India undertaking, with business interest in telecommunication services. Their services include PSTN, I-NET, ISP, ISDN, IN, WLL (GARUDA), cellular mobile services (Dolphin), leased line, broad band, Wi-Fi services, virtual phone and phone mail service.