Orders awaited for CDMA 2000 IX/WLL TERMINALS (IFWT/FWT/NIC)

BSNL had invited a tender for CDMA 2000 IX/WLL terminals (IFWT/FWT/NIC). There are 3 packages. Financial bid opening details are given. (bid price given does not include AMC). Orders are awaited from BSNL.

Financial bid opening awaited for class 5 ngn

BSNL had invited a tender for 1 million Class 5 NGN including support of 5 lakhs VoIP lines for FTTH. The technical bid has been opened. Bidders included IComm (with UT Starcom), ITI (with ZTE), Ericsson and NSN. Financial bid opening is awaited.

Orders placed for USIM Cards

BSNL had invited a tender for USIM Cards. Quantities required are 46,20,000 nos. of USIM 128 KB without Co-processor, 15,40,000 nos. of USIM 256 KB with Co-processor, 12,32,000 nos. of Re-personalization charges. The bid were opened on January 15, 2009. Syscom, Bartronics, Gemalto, and ITI bid for the tender. Syscom's bid price is the lowest at Rs. 38.91 for 128 KB without Co-processor USIMs and Rs. 89.01 for USIM 256 KB with Co-processor. Orders have been placed for 1.5 million numbers on ITI and 4.5 million numbers on Syscom.

Orders awaited for SPV Power SystemS

BSNL had invited a tender for 1 lakh SPV power systems for VPT working on WLL-CDMA based technology. The financial has been opened. Details of bid opening are given. Evaluation is being conducted. Orders are awaited.

Tender cancelled for IP-MPLS based Converged Network

MTNL had invited a tender for 2-layer centrally managed IP backbone network of IP-MPLS based Converged Network for MTNL Delhi and Mumbai. The technical bid was opened on November 11, 2008. Details of bid opening are given. Financial bid opening was awaited. However the tender has been cancelled. There were some issues in the process of evaluation which could not be resolved. A new Notice Inviting Tender shall be issued end June.

Orders awaited for ADSL2+CPEs

BSNL had invited a tender for 8 million numbers of ADSL2+CPEs. Details of financial bid opening are given.(these include AMC.) It is expected that three bidders shall be awarded, in the ratio 50:30:20. Price negotiations are on. Orders are awaited.

Orders awaited FOR Digital Microwave Equipment

BSNL had invited a tender for 2174 systems (4348 terminals) of15 GHz, 4XE1, Integrated Digital Microwave Equipment and Antennae (2626 nos. of 0.6 m; 1512 nos. of 1.2 m and 210 nos. of 1.8 m). Financial bid has been opened on September 29, 2008. Details are given. Technical and financial evaluation is underway. Clarifications sought have been submitted by the companies. It is expected that two bidders shall be awarded the order in the ratio 70:30. Orders are awaited from BSNL.

APO Placed for O-E-O Based DXC Equipment

BSNL had invited a tender for: Managed Optical Cross Connect with ASTN, ASON and GMPLS-173 nos.; Managed Optical Cross Connect with ASTN, ASON and GMPLS - 172 nos.; Optional Item - 20 nos.; Element Management System - 5 nos.; Local Craft Terminal; and Comprehensive Repair Charges and AMC for EMS. Advance Purchase Order has been issued on Prithvi (Huawei) for Rs. 230.19 crore

Orders placed for Next Generation Play Network (GPoN) Equipment

BSNL had invited a tender for: Indoor Splitters - 16268 nos.; Managed GE-PON system with single Fibre - 166 nos.; Fibre Distribution Frames/FDMS - 100 nos.; RPR based LAN Switches (Optional) - 234 nos.; GE-PON Element Management System with CORBA NBIF and SNMP/Q3 SBIF with a backup server - 2 nos.; LAN Switch Element Management System with CORBA NBIF and SNMP/Q3 SBIF with a backup server - 2 nos. GE-PON Local Craft Terminal - 30 nos.; and Comprehensive Repair Charges and AMC for EMS. Total value of the order is Rs. 685 crore. Orders have been placed on the three lowest bidders in the ratio 50:30:20.

Orders awaited for 40 channel DWDM Equipment

BSNL had invited a tender for 40 channel 10G DWDM equipment for 12-channel bit rate ut 10 G B/S for SDCA level. The technical bid was opened on May 2, 2008. Details of financial bid opening are given. Orders are awaited from BSNL.

Financial bid opening awaited for Part IV of GSM/UMTS INFRASTRUCTURE

BSNL has invited bids for GSM/UMTS Infrastructure for the four zones of India. Part III (Infrastructure), financial bid has been opened, and details are given in April 2009 issue of Communications Today. Part I (2G) and Part II (3G) financial bids also have been opened. Evaluations are in process. It is learnt that in Part II Ericsson has qualified for the East Zone and Huawei at Rs. 12,600 crore for the South Zone. There is controversy over selection of Chinese vendor Huawei for the southern region,

"In view of the pronounced security concerns in respect of Chinese vendors, procurement of resources from these vendors, particularly in sensitive regions would not be in the interest of national security. Therefore, resources should not be procured from Chinese vendors for deployment in sensitive regions. The sensitive regions are defined as States having international border with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan," said a DoT communication to BSNL.

Meanwhile DoT wants BSNL to conduct security audit of its network for any possible spyware. DoT has instructed BSNL to furnish a self-certificate for carrying out the security audit.

Orders awaited for WDM, Ethernet and CD-PMD Analysers

APos placed for STM-16 MADM Equipment

BSNL had invited a tender for managed STM-16 MADM with 2 Fiber Bi-Directional MS Shared Protection Ring Facility (Configuration-A). -1,522 nos; Managed STM-16 MADM with 2 Fiber Bi-Directional MS Shared Protection Ring Facility (Configuration-B). 2,698 nos.; Managed STM-16 MADM with 2 Fiber Bi-Directional MS Shared Protection Ring Facility (Configuration-C). 2,696 nos.; and Additional Maintenance spares set.

Advance Purchase Orders have been placed on Prithvi for Rs. 250 crore and Tejas for Rs. 106.93 crore (70:30 ratio).

Alcatel-Lucent delivers IP-based mobile next generation network to MTNL

Alcatel-Lucent and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. have announced the commercial launch of the operator's first IP-based mobile next generation network (NGN) to offer enhanced services to residential and enterprise customers in Mumbai. The mobile NGN solution, provided by Alcatel-Lucent, is 3G and IMS ready and will provide MTNL with substantial operator benefits in network optimization, bandwidth savings and reduced space and power requirements.

Orders placed for ILD Carrier Charges

MTNL had invited a tender for routing international traffic. The tender was opened on October 3, 2008 (earlier scheduled for October 10, 2008). Bidders for the technical bid were Reliance Communications, Tata Communications and Bharti Airtel. Orders have been placed. Various charges have been offered for 74 destinations for permanent rates for ILD carriage.

BSNL Awards contract to UT Starcom

UTStarcom, Inc. has announced that its contract with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has been extended to support newly-planned expansions of BSNL's multiplay network. In the first phase, UTStarcom deployed 1.3 million broadband subscriber lines for BSNL with an additional 1.1 million broadband subscriber lines during the second phase. With the new expansion phase, UTStarcom will deploy its B1000 multi-service access node (MSAN) solution throughout India to add approximately 475,000 ports of capacity to BSNL's existing broadband network, allowing additional subscribers to experience triple-play services.

HCL wins Rs. 240 crore ERP-based System Integration deal from BSNL

BSNL has awarded a Systems Integration Project, worth Rs. 240 crore to HCL Infosystems. This will involve the implementation of over 60,000 ERP licences. The prime objective of ERP system is to improve the information flow to facilitate better decision making leading to overall improvement in the performance of the organisation by way of improvements in the productivity, cycle time, financial performance and information transparency.

The project entails installation, operations, maintenance, training and customization by consolidating the different systems onto a single ERP platform. As a part of the BSNL's business transformation programme, HCL will migrate India's leading telecommunication company's Finance, Commissioning & operations functions onto a single ERP system. The project rollout includes setting up of the main Data Centre at Hyderabad and the Disaster Recovery Data Centre at Kolkata. Installation and commissioning at these centres will streamline these business processes, provide a single view of the business, aiding compliance to storage system, security system, enterprise management system, network management systems, access management system etc. of existing data centres.

Pick of the picks
BSNL to seek fresh bids for WiMAX tender
BSNL will invite fresh bids for its process involving awarding of franchisee licence for WiMAX services, reports the Economic Times. The move follows emergence of the fact that 5 out of 6 licences were awarded to a single person who directly or indirectly held the 5 companies.
The five companies WiExpert Communications, SV Telecom Systems, Digitelco Communications, Spectrus Communications and Technotial Infoways were all reported to be belonging to a person named Sanjay Kapoor. Pioneer had published that the person was believed to be close to Minister, A Raja.
The Pioneer report had on May 06 alleged that Vijay Pal who is the driver of Kapoor was shown as Director of one of the firm. It said that the companies were operating from a single address and the annual general meeting of all the firms was shown to be on a single date.
 

PRIVATE INVESTMENTS

IBM wins contract for star india

IBM has finalized an agreement with STAR India, to implement SAP(R) ECC 6.0 application encompassing all major business processes. The deal will increase process efficiency, enabling STAR India to enhance customer experience and drive greater control over net margin. This deal with Star India was signed in February 2009.

Sistema in tie-up with aegis

Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd has announced a strategic agreement with Aegis BPO for  outsourcing customer service operations of its mobile service brand MTS in the eastern circle. Aegis BPO will facilitate SSTL in the delivery of quality customer care solutions to customers and establishing customer loyalty for the MTS brand. SSTL, which has recently forayed into Kolkata, is looking to gradually expand its presence to the Eastern states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

MTS has already invested about USD 1.2 billion in India, for spectrum allocation and other infrastructure, out of the total capital expenditure plan of USD 5.5 billion. The mandate to Aegis BPO entails the managing of both voice and back-office processes including inbound customer service, inbound retailer help desk, outbound and inbound complaints, handset support, technical help desk and welcome call.

Aegis BPO will provide a 35-seat contact center, scalable to 150 over the next three months, as the volumes of subscriber-base and call transactions increase.  The agreement with Aegis is aimed at ensuring consistent, high-quality services to MTS subscribers in the region.

Alcatel-Lucent bags 5-year tele deal from Unitech

Alcatel-Lucent has bagged a five-year contract worth about Rs. 720 crore from Unitech Wireless, a telecom venture of real estate major Unitech, to support the launch of the company's GSM mobile services

According to the five-year contract, Alcatel Lucent would deploy GSM/EDGE networks for Unitech in the Kerala and Orissa circles.

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor has invested Rs 11.3 billion (USD 236 million) in Unitech Wireless.

Wipro selected by Unitech Wireless

Unitech Wireless, has awarded a Rs 2500 crore, outsourcing contract to Wipro for creating the next generation telecom company, over a nine year period.

Unitech Wireless, with licences to operate in all 22 circles across India, is launching state-of-the-art telecommunication services to provide advanced wireless voice, data and ILD/, NLD services.

Wipro will implement a future- ready IT architecture in accordance with industry standards, and deliver a scalable, flexible and secure platform comprising a suite of industry leading software applications. Wipro will also deploy component based Service Delivery Platform (SDP) for Unitech Wireless to deliver wide range of services including Multi Channel Access, Real Time Information Delivery, Multimedia Content and VAS. It is expected that the Wipro's-Unitech Wireless partnership will transform the way in which the telecom industry operates, and create new benchmarks for business-technology alignment. Wipro will be working with Unitech Wireless right from the launch and taking responsibility for key aspects of the service infrastructure.

Oracle Buys Sun

Oracle Corporation and Sun Microsystems have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for USD 9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately USD 7.4 billion, or USD 5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt. "We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Oracle's earnings by at least 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing. We estimate that the acquired business will contribute over USD 1.5 billion to Oracle's non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to over USD 2 billion in the second year. This would make the Sun acquisition more profitable in per share contribution in the first year than we had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined," said Oracle President Safra Catz.

"The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system - applications to disk - where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up."

There are substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris. Java is one of the computer industry's best-known brands and most widely deployed technologies, and it is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle's fastest growing business, is built on top of Sun's Java language and software. Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.

The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle's largest business, and has been for a long time. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris. Oracle is as committed as ever to Linux and other open platforms and will continue to support and enhance

The Board of Directors of Sun Microsystems has unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to close this summer, subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Investments expected

MTNL eyes one mn new subscribers in current fiscal; plans Rs. 1,772 cr capex

MTNL is planning a capex amounting Rs 1,772 crore in the current fiscal towards network expansion, broadband infrastructure expansion and fibre-to-home backbone. The ultimate aim of the company is to notch up one million new subscribers.The fibre to the home (FTTH) initiative is likely to be allotted Rs 200 crore from the overall budget.

SSTL eyes all-India presence by 2010

Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) which is on a major expansion plan is planning to have a pan India footprint by Q3 2010. The company aims to add two-three new circles on its operations coverage every quarter. By the third quarter of 2010, the service provider plans to cover all the telecom circles.