MTNL Pays Rs 159-Cr Dividend to Govt

MTNL on October 7 has announced a net profit of Rs 877.15 crore for the year ended March 31, 2003, and has declared a dividend of 45 percent. MTNL said it was able to contain the impact on its revenue to 5.5 percent despite slashing tariffs on domestic and international calls. During 2002-03, MTNL's basic telephone subscribers went up by 1,02,514, Internet customers by 88,619, cellular mobile subscribers by 69,742 and subscribers including FWT and CorDECT by 47,844.