Government may hand over MTNL operations to BSNL and not merge them

The government is considering to just hand over operations of the public sector telecom operator MTNL to the bigger BSNL instead of merging the two, Times of India reported, citing unidentified sources.

Why is the government handing over MTNL operations to BSNL?
Both MTNL and BSNL have struggled financially in the past and have received bailouts even as recently around two years back.