VSNL Declares 85% Dividend for 2002-03

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has announced its audited financial results for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 31st March 2003. The company also declared a dividend of 85%, i.e. Rs. 8.50 dividend per share (with a face value of Rs. 10). The past year has seen significant changes in the Telecom Industry and in particular, the International Long Distance (ILD) sector, which witnessed liberalization with effect from April 1 2002. The year that followed has seen sharp decline in international settlement rates and domestic tariffs, all of which are developments favorable to the end customer. VSNL has, despite competition, maintained and grown its traffic volume and is certain that the future growth in volumes will offset the short-term impact on the industry.

The contribution of Data and other Value Added Services to VSNL"s revenues during the year has increased from 11% in FY 2001-02 to 25% in this financial year. The same is on account of the company"s focused sales and marketing endeavors to tap the demand for these services. The company also recently announced the setting up of the Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit, a focused sales and marketing team that will undertake specialized business development activities. The Unit is a combined initiative of VSNL, Tata Teleservices Limited, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited and Tata Internet Services Limited.

The main highlights of the company’s Q4 financial results are- (Rs. in million)

With a view to establishing direct contact with its end customers and to strengthen its brand presence, the company has adopted an FMCG distribution model for its dial-up Internet pack, which is now available under the Tata Indicom brand. Having invested around Rs. 8 Crore towards various brand building exercises and retail initiatives undertaken during the quarter, VSNL"s Internet packs, are now available across over 3000 retail outlets in 11 cities in the country. The company has also recently entered into a
distribution tie-up with ICICI Bank for the distribution of Tata Indicom dial up packs through over 1675 ICICI Bank ATMs in the country, making it the first ISP in India to dispense Internet Access plans through ATMs. The company is also undertaking series of initiatives like Enhanced Customer care set-up, new, improved Messaging and Billing system, thereby further improving the quality of service to its strong base of over 700,000 subscribers.

S. K. Gupta, Managing Director, VSNL said, "As VSNL consolidates its presence in the retail market, the company is also proactively seeking to tap the opportunities in the corporate market segment for its Value Added Service. Customer service is also becoming a key differentiator for VSNL as we are gearing ourselves to offer our customers superior products, coupled with quality customer service. The company is also looking at cutting costs through the optimum utilization of bandwidth, which constitutes a sizable share of VSNL"s operating expenses