PART APOS PLACED FOR EPBtS

MTNL, Mumbai had invited a tender for 175,000 nos of electronic push button telephones with RJ-11 Female Jack Units for GM(MM) unit. The financial bid has been opened, and details are given. Three companies were found eligible. Part Advance Purchase Orders have been placed. An APO for 50 percent of the quantity has been placed on SRV, the lowest bidder, at a unit price Rs. 206. It is expected that APOs for 30 percent quantity on Bharti and 20 percent quantity on Pramod Telecom shall be placed soon.

FINANCIAL BID OPENING AWAITED FOR EPBTS

MTNL, Delhi had invited a tender for 50,000 nos of electronic push button telephones with RJ-11 Female Jack Units. The technical bid was opened on April 12, 2012, with Pramod Telecom and ITI as bidders. The financial bid has not yet been opened. It is expected that if the lowest bid unit price is higher than Rs. 210, the order may be routed through MTNL, Mumbai, where the lowest unit price for 175,000 nos of EPBTs is Rs. 206, as quoted by SRV.

ORDERS PLACED FOR 24F OF CABLE

Tender No. CA/CNP/OFC/T-4-6/2011-12 DATED 30-08-2011

BSNL had invited a tender for 24F metal free 32,000 km of optical fibre cable with double HDPE sheath. The bid was opened on November 1, 2011. Sterlite, the lowest bidder has been awarded 30 percent of the quantity, at a per km basic price of Rs. 43553, excluding taxes. The balance 70 percent has been awarded to seven other bidders, TTL, HFCL, Paramount, Aksh, VTL, Finolex and UM Cables in inverse ratio of their respective bid prices.

APOS PLACED FOR SIM CARDS

Tender No. CA/CM/64K SIM/T-407/2011-12 dated 16-09-2011

BSNL had invited a tender for 49 lakh nos. of 64K Phase II + SIM cards. The APO has been placed on Syscom, the lowest bidder, the approximate value of the order being Rs. 5 crore.

ORDERS PLACED FOR CELLULAR MOBILE NETWORK

Tender No. CA/CM/GSM-Ph VII/T-404A/2011-12 dated 14.07.2011

BSNL has placed orders for planning, financing, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and annual maintenance of Package 1 and 2 for Phase-VII expansion of GSM/UMTS/LTE based cellular mobile network in North, East, and South Zones for 14.37 million lines. For Package I, the order for 10 million lines have been placed on ZTE for North and South Zones and the APO has been accepted. For the balance 5 million lines, APO has been offered to Huawei for East Zone, who has refused to accept it. BSNL has made the offer to the L3 bidder, Alcatel-Lucent. Acceptance is awaited. The lowest package price quoted by ZTE was Rs. 4000 crore.

For Package II (IN solutions), the APOs for North and East Zone have been offered to Alcatel-Lucent, the lowest bidder, and acceptance is awaited, after which the offer shall be made for the South Zone to ZTE, L2 bidder. The lowest package price quoted by Alcatel-Lucent was Rs. 164 crore.

APOS PLACED FOR ADSL2+ CPE EQUIPMEMT

BSNL had invited a tender for 10,00,000 nos. of ADSL2+ CPE Type W2, the estimated cost being Rs. 1.33 crore. APOs have been placed for 7 lakh nos. on Teracom, the lowest bidder, and for the balance 3 lakh nos on VMC (L2). VMC has not accepted the APO and the APO has been withdrawn. The balance 3 lakh nos. will probably be offered to Beetel (L3), and if Beetel too refuses, the offer shall be made to Teracom the lowest bidder.

ORDERS PLACED FOR SOLAR PV SYSTEM AND VRLA BATTERIES.

Tender No. CA/ELECT/SPV/T-403/2011-12 dated August 26, 2011

BSNL had invited a tender for supply, installation testing and commissioning operation & maintenance of the entire solar PV installations in Parts A, B and C. This is for 25 nos. each of 5KWp SPV system and VRLA batteries (2x600 AH, 48V-24 cells), 50 nos each of 7.5KWp SPV and VRLA batteries (2x800 AH 48 V-24 cells) and 25 nos. each of 10 KWp SPVs and VRLA batteries (1250 AH, 48 V-24 cells). APOs have been placed on ITI for 71 sets with a package price of Rs. 16 crore, and on Exicom for 29 sets with a package price of Rs. 8 crore. Details are given.

ORDERS PLACED FOR DSPTS
Tender No. CA/MMT/CFA/11-26/2011-12 dated June 8, 2011

BSNL had invited a tender for 5000 nos. each of DSPTs (digital satellite phone terminals) alongwith 1.2 meter satellite antenna (in Ku band), solar photovoltaic panel, and accessories; 1.2 meter satellite antenna in Ku-band and associated items; and solar photovoltaic panel and associated items for DSPTs. The order has been placed on TCIL, total value of order being approximately Rs. 40 crore.

FINANCIAL BID OPENING AWAITED FOR SIM CARDS
MTNL, Delhi had invited a tender for 4 lakh numbers of 32K SIM cards and 3 lakh numbers of 64K SIM cards. Technical bid has been opened on August 21, 2011. Syscom and Sharon are the two bidders. Financial bid opening is awaited.

ORDERS AWAITED FOR DEFENCE NETWORK

Tender No. MM/CNP/012010/000388 dated 15.01.2010

BSNL had invited a tender for procurement, supply, trenching, laying, installation, testing, and maintenance of optical fiber cable and accessories for construction of exclusive optical NLD backbone and optical access routes on turnkey basis for defense network. This is for OFC based nationwide optical backbone for 414 defense sites and optical gigabit access networks at 219 army sites. Financial bid opening details are given. Orders are awaited from BSNL.

ORDERS AWAITED FOR OFC - INDIAN NAVY
Tender No. MM/CNP/022010/000384 dated 22.02.2010

BSNL had invited a tender for supply of 96F OFC and its accessories on turnkey basis for defense services (Indian Navy). There are three zones. Bidders are Teracom-Neo Duct, Sterlite-TCIL, and VTL-Engineering P & Construction. Teracom-Neo Duct was the lowest bidder with a bid price of Rs. 853.79 crore. For bid details please refer the January 2012 edition of Communications Today. PNC is being done. Orders are awaited.

DECISION AWAITED FOR STM-64 EQUIPMENT
Tender No. MM/CNP/022010/000382 dated 09.04.2010

BSNL had invited a tender for procurement of 1,621 numbers of STM-64 equipment. Financial bid has been opened. Bidders are VMC, Prithvi, IComm, ITI, Teracom, Alcatel-Lucent, and ZTE. VMC emerged as the lowest bidder with a bid price of Rs. 82.25 crore. For bid details please refer the January 2012 edition of Communications Today. Evaluation process is on. It is anticipated that this tender may be cancelled.

EOI PROPOSAL FOR CARRIER ETHERNET NETWORK
EoI No. MM/CN/052009/000369 dated 28.05.2009

BSNL had invited an EoI for 2,000 numbers of carrier ethernet network equipment. Alcatel-Lucent, Sterlite, Huawei, Teracom, Syrma, ZTE, Tejas, HCL, Infosys, NSN, and Appsis expressed interest. The technical evaluation is on. Shortlisted companies will be issued tender documents.

FINANCIAL BID OPENING AWAITED FOR ROUTERS & SWITCHES

Railtel had invited tender for supply of routers & switches for PRS/UTS unit of Southern Railway, estimated cost of tender was Rs. 99.3 Lakh. Technical bid was opened on March 21, 2012. Cisco, Huawei and HP, with their respective partners are the bidders and financial bid opening is awaited.

FINANCIAL BID OPENING AWAITED FOR SMF VRLA BATTERY SETS

MTNL Mumbai had invited a tender for supply of SMF VRLA battery sets for 132 nos. Technical bid was opened on March 16, 2012. Exide Batteries, Amara Raja, and Energy Leader are the bidders and financial bid opening is awaited.

Private Investments

BHARTI AIRTEL SIGNS DEAL WITH ZTE AND NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS
Bharti Airtel has selected ZTE Corporation as its telecom equipment partner for the 4G network launch in Kolkata. The TD/LTE service launch will offer high-speed wireless Internet access that can support bandwidth-intensive applications, video streaming, and high-definition video conferencing. Bharti Airtel will deploy its TD-LTE network in the 2.3 GHz frequency band allocated by the Indian government for broadband wireless access technologies. ZTE will help Airtel plan, design, supply, and deploy its 4G network in Kolkata.

Bharti Airtel has also appointed Nokia Siemens Networks to manage its TD-LTE network in Maharashtra. Nokia Siemens Networks will support the large-scale 4G commercial rollout in India by offering the newly introduced TD-LTE 6 pipes radio. Additionally, Nokia Siemens Networks' NetAct operations support system will enable effective and consolidated monitoring, management, and optimization of Bharti Airtel's GSM and TD-LTE networks. Nokia Siemens Networks will provide network design, integration, commissioning, and optimization services to the operator for rapid rollout of the network and full set of care services including hardware, software, and competence development services.

RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS IN PACT WITH RIVERBED
Reliance Communications has expanded its Application Aware Network service in India. The expansion in partnership with Riverbed will enable Indian enterprises to upgrade to an intelligent network that speeds up application performance for increased business efficiency. Reliance's Application Aware Network provides visibility and control of application performance across networks and increases WAN capacity by using cutting-edge traffic optimization technologies.

IDEA CELLULAR SELECTS ERICSSON AND SUBEX
Idea Cellular has signed an agreement with Ericsson to provide it with managed services in five circles: Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Northeast, and Assam. The partnership between the two companies has now been extended from one circle to five circles. Under the three-year agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for managing network and field operations, operation and maintenance activities for 2G and 3G sites, network design and planning, network performance improvement, and program management for infrastructure.

Idea Cellular has selected Subex's ROC Fraud Management solution for postpaid and roaming. As part of the fully outsourced managed services deal, Subex will run the operator's entire fraud management operations. ROC Fraud Management Solution is built to drive fraud prevention by eliminating known frauds, uncovering new fraud patterns, minimizing fraud run time, augmenting internal controls, and supporting continuous fraud management process improvement.

MAHINDRA SATYAM TO INVEST Rs. 1152 CRORE (USD 240 MILLION) IN INFRA
Mahindra Satyam is planning to invest Rs. 1152 crore (USD 240 million) globally to set up infrastructure and support services for its clients over the next three years. Fifty percent of the investment will be made in Asia Pacific, especially in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The majority of the investments will go into creating infrastructure, training and development facilities, and solutions either in engineering or mobility to create specific solutions for the markets. Investments will be for facilities outside India and do not involve any merger and acquisition or joint ventures.

TATA COMM PLANS TO HIVE OFF DATA CENTER UNIT
Tata Communications has proposed to hive off its data center business into a new entity in a bid to get a larger market share in this segment. The book value of the data center business is about Rs. 500 crore as of September 2011. Tata Communications needs government approval, according to the shareholders' agreement. According to the proposal, the data center business will be transferred to S&A Internet Services Private Ltd., which is a 100 percent subsidiary of Tata Communications. The business includes 350,000 sq. ft. of data center space spread over seven cities, including Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune.

WIPRO TO ACQUIRE ANALYTICS CO
Wipro Limited has signed an agreement to acquire Promax Applications Group (PAG), a player in trade promotion planning, management, and optimization solutions space for a total purchase consideration of Rs. 19.21 crore (AUD 35 Million). Completion of the acquisition is subject to custom closing conditions and regulatory approvals and will be closed in the April-June 2012 quarter. The newly formed entity will be called as Wipro Promax Analytics Solutions Pty Ltd.