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| ZTE may bag entire Rs 4,000 crore BSNL deal |
| Friday, 15 June 2012 | |
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Telecom gear maker ZTE may end up being the sole supplier of GSM equipment to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd even though the state-run company had decided to give out the contract of 15 million lines in 60:40 ratio to two different suppliers. ZTE would probably bag the Rs 4,000-crore deal since its competitive bidders - Huawei, Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks - have declined to match the lowest price of USD 50 per line quoted by ZTE, reported the Economic Times. This could, yet again, push back BSNL's long-delayed contract for expanding its pan-India second-generation network. BSNL had floated a tender in July 2011 to buy equipment worth about Rs 4,000 crore to add capacity to its existing 2G network and improve services in the north, east and south zones. However, the tender went through several revisions and the PSU decided to follow the process of reverse auction where the company offering the lowest price would get the equipment purchase contract in two zones. The second-lowest bidder would get the contract for the third zone but at the same price quoted by the lowest bidder. While ZTE had emerged as the lowest bidder by quoting a price of USD 50 a line, Huawei had bid the second lowest. According to the terms and conditions of the BSNL tender, Huawei would have to match ZTE's price to win the contract in the eastern zone. But a senior executive at Huawei said the company would walk away from this deal because it would be technically unviable to operate at the price. "It's not just us, everyone else who had bid higher than ZTE would also refuse because it's unviable for all," the executive said. BSNL chairman and managing director RK Upadhyay told that advance purchase orders for GSM equipment required in the north and south zones had been placed with ZTE and detailed purchase orders would be placed soon by individual circles based on their exact requirements. He added that if the second lowest bidder, Huawei, chose not to accept these terms, the third lowest, believed to be Alcatel Lucent, would be asked to deliver equipment. "It's a process we must follow. If none of the lower bidders accept, the contract will go to the lowest bidder, ZTE." –Communications Today Bureau |
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