Formerly known as Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd, HTL has drawn up a diversification plan that envisages expansion of its product portfolio, chairperson Lakshmi G Menon said.

The company also wanted to become a basic service provider considering its own capability in the area of telecommunications and in-house R&D. Due permission form the Government was, however, not forthcoming, she said. HTL, nevertheless, remains open to opportunities such as providing equipment to basic service providers, railways (which requires radio equipment, signal and data transmitters), and the public which was increasingly going for internet connectivity, she added.

HTL plans to sell its V-90 modems by setting up a distribution network. The company has also introduced a 64 kbps line driver, SBM XL, Max XL, managed leased data network, digital loop carriers,digital circuit multiplexing equipment, new switch mode power supplies and wireless local loop.

The company has a tie-up with Digital to provide servers and with Cisco to provide routers which have been provided to Telecom Engineering Centre based at Delhi for evaluation.

HTL has supplied and installed on turnkey basis equipment for managed leased data network to MTNL to cover 30 sites in Delhi and 44 sites in Mumbai. This equipment facilitates high speed connectivity to leased data subscribers promising bandwidth on demand and replaces the fault-prone conventional practice of physical jumpering and terminations.

HTL recorded a provisional turnover of Rs 360 crore for the fiscal 1998-99 as against Rs 275 crore in the previous year, Menon said.

Profit before tax during the year stood at Rs 12 crore over Rs 6.8 crore earned in 1997-98, Menon said but declined to give the net profit figures.

Asked about the disinvestment of HTL, Menon said the government would appoint a global advisor before the end ofthis month.

The Government was also considering converting an outstanding loan of Rs 11.5 crore to equity before going in for disinvestment, she added. HTL has sought permission from the Government to restructure the capital to avail funds from financial institutions and banks for new projects, Menon said.