ZTE Corp’s has bagged a US$3000 million contract with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to provide WiMax systems for its broadband rollout.
According to ZTE India chairman & managing director Dr DK Ghosh, the company would provide the range of WiMax systems to speed up BSNL’s WiMax broadband rollout over the next six months. The company has entered into a deal with BSNL to provide varied WiMax systems valued at US$3000 million. The device will be a mix of WiMax base-stations, switches and specialized WiMax terminals/handhelds. A portion of the equipment will be manufactured at ZTE India’s Manesar plant.
The only thing unanswered is whether ZTE India will directly provide the WiMax gear to BSNL or its designated franchisees.
A few months ago, BSNL had issued letters of intent to Teracom, Take Solutions, Adishwar India and Ampoules to start WiMax-based broadband services as franchisees. They had been ordered to roll out such services based on a revenue sharing model. Approximately 10-32 % of the revenues from WiMax-based broadband services were to grow to the state-owned telco.