India and Mauritius' MTNL, a public sector enterprise, announced on Monday in a statement that it was to launch 3G services later this year and said it would finalize its plans to deploy the service at a board meeting next month. The company's new chairman and managing director AK Garg and new director Kuldip Singh are slated to attend the MTNL Mauritius's board meeting. The operator announced it also has plans to roll out 3G services in other African markets if it is given governmental permission to do so. MTNL's Mauritius arm has already won a 3G license and will be the third company in the country to offer this facility there after Orange Plc and Emtel. China's ZTE will supply the hardware and software updates. “Mauritius receives over 1 m global tourists every year and offers a Rs 2,000-crore annual revenue opportunity for telcos, with international roaming accounting for 15% of operators' earnings,” the company said in announcing their intentions. MTNL had been searching for new markets across the continent as its operations in India continue to be loss-making and it has to repay 7,000 crore of bridge loans it took to buy 3G and mobile broadband airwaves in 2010. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Jx1HL Tags: 3G, Mauritius, MTNL, Telecom Section: East Africa, South Asia, Tech
