BSNL’mega tender’ hits another roadblock (India)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news:  Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL’s) ‘mega-tender’ for 93 million GSM lines has hit another blockade, after internal vigilance officials at the operator raised concerns over the prices quoted by Ericsson and Huawei.

According to a report, both the Swedish and Chinese vendors have quoted more than INR7,000 (USD144.6) per 3G line and INR3,000 per 2G line, with the latter price not including IT, software, billing solution or passive infrastructure; by comparison BSNL’s previous contract for the rollout of new lines was awarded at a cost less than INR4,000 per line including all cellular infrastructure components.

Although, industry figures have said it is unfair to compare previous tenders with BSNL’s latest, noting that in this current phase of expansion vendors will be required to provide seven years of network maintenance compared to three for previous tenders. It is understood that vigilance officers have been told that negotiations are continuing with Ericsson in a bid to reduce the price.