News makers:

New Delhi: With the current chairman and managing director of the basic telephone service provider to Mumbai and Delhi, MTNL, expected to retire on June 30 this year, the race to replace him has hotted up.

According to a report appearing in the Economic Times, the current favourites are Telecom Consultants of India chief, Mr. A. S. Bansal, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India secretary Mr. Narendra Sharma and Hindustan Cables chief Mr. N.K. Aggarwal.

According to the report, other candidates who were interviewed by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), included HTL chief Ms. Lakshmi G Menon, MTNL (Delhi) chief general manager Mr. KH Khan, MTNL director (technical) Mr. GD Gaiha and its director (finance) Mr. S Sunderasan.

PESB is expected to send its recommendations to the appointment committee of the cabinet (ACC) by Thursday, which in turn will send the list to union communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan for his approval.

Mr Rajagopalan joined MTNL as CMD about four years back. During his tenure, the company diversified from a basic telecom service provider to internet and mobile services. The company is also planning to enter the field of software development for the telecom sector. The company raised funds through the GDR market during Mr Rajagopalan's tenure. MTNL is in the process of listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is currently finalising the documents for conversion of GDRs to ADRs. It will soon file the documents with the US Securities Exchange Commission. The company is also entering the GSM-based cellular mobile services, expected to be commercially operational by September.