Chinese cos get to bid for BSNL’s 93 mn GSM lines

The size of the order for supplying equipment and installing the GSM network is likely to be as high as Rs 40,000 crore, if one goes by the lowest bids submitted by Ericsson in the last tender. The technical conditions have been framed in such a way that another Chinese major, ZTE, too will be able to qualify for the tender. It will be the first GSM tender in which any Chinese telecom vendor will participate without the threat of being disqualified.

The tender conditions envisage, “The eligible bidder company or its parent company shall be a manufacturer of GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN). Such a bidder company shall also be registered in India to carry out telecom related activity.”

Huawei was not eligible for participation in BSNL’s previous tender as it envisaged that the vendors should be Indian manufacturers. ZTE on its part submitted bids, which were rejected on technical grounds. Consequently, the field was left open to European and American players. US-based Motorola, too was, disqualified on technical grounds — leaving European majors Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and Alcatel (through ITI) in the field.

In case of the last GSM tender floated by BSNL — in 2005 — it took almost two years from the date of inviting bids for the order to be ultimately offered to Ericsson. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the other qualifying bidder, did not accept the order.

When A Raja became Union communications minister following Dayanidhi Maran’s resignation, the first major decision he took was to reduce the quantity of the order by 50 per cent to 22.5 million lines. He also directed BSNL officials to reduce the price to $95 per line from the lowest quoted price of $107 per line.

Ericsson was...