Exclusive: Soon a PowerGrid subsidiary for telecom business

New Delhi: PowerGrid is now set to turn its telecom business into a 100 percent owned subsidiary, a highly placed source at the ministry of power has confirmed the development to PSU Watch. The official source in the know of the matter confirmed that the ministry of power has given statutory permission to begin the process. The maharatna PSU's telecom business is called 'POWERTEL' and it is the only utility in India having overhead optic fibre network using Optical Ground Wire on power transmission lines.

"PowerGrid is planning to turn its telecom business into a 100 percent owned subsidiary. The plan has been in the pipeline and a formal announcement in this regard will be made soon"- Senior Executive, PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd

It has an all-India broadband telecom network of 60,946 Km. It is also a National Long Distance Operator (NLDO). A senior executive of PowerGrid said, "PowerGrid is planning to turn its telecom business into a 100 percent owned subsidiary. The plan has been in the pipeline and a formal announcement in this regard will be made soon." PowerGrid has been looking to offer part of its business to telecom operators The state-run power transmission giant has been planning to offer 10-20 percent of its 1.5 lakh tower assets to telecom operators in order to leverage its tower infrastructure.

PowerGrid was granted a unified licence with national long-distance and internet service provider authorisation to provide telecom services in 2017. The state-run power transmission utility provides telecom towers and optical-fibre cable infrastructure (for internet services) to service providers and other firms for commercial use. This is a separate segment of revenue for the company.