ORDERS AWAITED FOR STM - 1 SDH MICROWAVE EQUPMENT

BSNL had invited a tender for supply, installation and commissioning of SDH, STM-1 microwave equipment, antenna, waveguide, and other associated accessories in 6 GHZ frequency band. The tender was opened on July 1, 2009. Nokia Siemens Networks (package price Rs. 28.56 crore), Teracom (package price Rs. 32.36 crore), and Bharat Electronics bid for the tender. BE bid has not been opened, shall be opened in a couple of days. Orders are now awaited.

ORDERS AWAITED FOR STM - 1 SDH ADMS EQUIPMENT

Railtel had invited a tender for supply of STM - 1 SDH ADMs & other associated equipments for the OFC based communication systems. The financial bid was opened on June 26, 2009. There were four bidders. Details are given. Orders are awaited from Railtel.

FINANCIAL BID OPENING AWAITED FOR DSLAM, ADSL CPEs

Railtel had invited a tender for providing broadband Network with DSLAM, ADSL CPEs on Indian Railways. The technical bid was opened on June 30, 2009. Details of bidders and their partners for respective products are given. Eleven companies bid for the tender. Financial bid opening is awaited.

AGREEMENTS AWAITED FOR HIRING TOWERS

BSNL had invited an Expression of Interest for hiring infrastructure (mobile towers) for wireless services. The bid was opened on June 10, 2009. Twenty companies have responded. They include Suyog Telematic, Hitech Telematic, Transcend Infrastructure, Sreelaxmi Narasimhan Teleservices, Saurabh Kumar JAB, Spanco, Unity Telecom Infrastructure, Spun Communication Infrastructure, Sewa Sons, ITIL, Satya Telecom, Essar, Teracom, Aster, Quipo, GTL, Tower Vision, ATC, XL Telecom, and Bharti Infrastructure.

Clarifications sought by BSNL shall now be made and then agreements finalised.

APOs PLACED FOR 24 FIBRE ARMOURED OPTICAL FIBRE CABLE

Railtel had invited a tender for 1800 km of 24 Fibre Armoured Optical Fibre Cable. The bid was opened on May 15, 2009. Bidders included Sterlite, Teracom, Finolex, Sudarshan, and VTL. Advance Purchase Orders have been placed on Sterlite, the lowest bidder , at a unit price of Rs. 47,100 per km.

APOS PLACED 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. Advance Purchase Orders have been placed by BSNL. Details are given.

ORDERS AWAITED FOR EPBTs

MTNL had invited a tender for 225,000 nos. of Electronic Push Button Telephones (EPBTs) with LJU.

For MTNL, Parel, Mumbai. The quantity has been reduced to 100,000 instruments. The tender was opened on June 19, 2009. Three companies bid for the tender, Pramod, SRV and Bharti. Details are given. Orders are awaited from MTNL.

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 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.

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 have been finalized. Board approvals are now awaited so that orders may be placed.

PART-ORDERS PLACED FOR DIGITAL MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT

BSNL had invited a tender for 2174 systems (4348 terminals) of 15 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). Part orders have been placed. Order for 1521 systems (70% quantity) has been placed on Teracom at its lowest quoted package price of Rs. 47.11 cr. Exicom, the second lowest bidder has refused to accept 30 percent quantity at this price. Offer has now been made to RGV, the third lowest bidder.

ORDERS AWAITED FOR 40 CHANNEL DWDM EQUIPMENT

BSNL had invited a tender for 40-channel 10G DWDM equipment for 12-channel bit rate 10G 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 IT

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.

Part I (2G) and Part II (3G) financial bids also have been opened. Evaluation is in process.

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.
 

Also, the Punjab and Haryana High Court have directed BSNL to disclose the reasons for disqualifying Nokia-Siemens Network. NSN approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court subsequent to the dismissal of its petition filed in the Delhi High Court, asking for a stay on the BSNL tender. In its response at the Delhi High Court, BSNL had submitted that the matter pertained to a tender floated by the state-run company in the Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata zones. As a result, the division bench in Delhi ruled that Nokia-Siemens could approach the appropriate High Court where the jurisdiction lay. While disposing of a writ filed by Nokia-Siemens, the Punjab and Haryana High Court also allowed Nokia-Siemens to inspect all the records of the tender to scrutinize on what accounts the company was disqualified. If BSNL fails to comply, or if Nokia-Siemens is not satisfied with the replies provided by BSNL, the court has given Nokia-Siemens the liberty of filing a fresh petition.

BSNL's INVESTMENT PLANS

It is expected that BSNL shall invite a tender for 60,000 k of 24F. The approximate cost of the tender will be Rs. 200 crores (calculated on last purchase price of Rs. 32,125 per km)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd plans to use its Rs. 30,000-crore cash reserves to look for acquisitions in Africa, where it plans to seek expansion of business. The incumbent has received the go-ahead from the government to apply for overseas licenses.

INTERNET CSC ROLLOUT COMPLETE

The Indian government's initiative of providing e-governance to villages is gathering some momentum: as of June 2009, the rollout of Internet connected Common Service Centers has been completed in the states of Jharkhand (4562), Haryana(1159) and Sikkim(45), and almost complete in Gujarat.

In the Union Budget last year, Rs. 75 crores was allocated towards the setting up of CSCs. Broadband connectivity for CSCs was to be provided by BSNL and the rollout was in the form of a public private partnership.

ORDERS PLACED FOR WDM, ETHERNET AND CD-PMD ANALYSERS

BSNL had invited a tender for WDM, Ethernet and CD-PMD analyzers. There are 4 packages. Details are given. Orders have been placed by BSNL.

PRIVATE INVESTMENTS

RCOM, CHINA MOBILE IN TIE-UP TALKS

Reliance Communications has started preliminary talks with China Mobile, the world's largest mobile company, for a strategic alliance and possible equity participation of 5 to 6 per cent.

TATAS TO LAUNCH GSM SERVICES THIS MONTH

Tata Teleservices plan to launch its services in GSM platform in partnership with NTT DoCoMo. The firm would invest USD 2 billion this fiscal to roll out operations across the country. The service, which would be branded ‘Tata-DoCoMo', would be rolled out by this month-end in the southern region, followed by western and northern regions. NTT DoCoMo had acquired 26 per cent stake in TTSL for USD 2.7 billion last year.

SATYAM BAGS CONTRACTS WORTH $380 MILLION

Satyam Computer Services, reeling under the impact of India's largest corporate scandal, managed to bag new business orders worth USD 380 million (around Rs 1,800 crore), as on March 26, 2009. These deals have come from 215 of its existing clients.

Meanwhile, the company lost 66 clients, worth USD 183 million (around Rs 900 crore) in the same period ' either because contracts were terminated, or they expired, or were withdrawn.

About 23 customers terminated contracts accounting for USD 70 million as on March 26, 2009. Moreover, another 24 customers withdrew purchase orders to the tune of USD 91 million spread over a period of 12 months. However, the company has been losing clients post-March as a lot of executives from the top management exited the company.

TELCORDIA GETS ORDER FROM UNITECH & AIRCEL

Telcordia, has been selected by Unitech Wireless as part of its build-out of a pan-India GSM network for its the Telcordia® Real-Time Charging solution.

Aircel, awarded Telcordia a five-year, multi-million dollar contract for Telcordia Real-Time Charging.

NSN ROLLS OUT NETWORKS FOR VODAFONE

Vodafone Essar has completed a rapid service expansion into seven new regions across India. These cover Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, North East, and Orissa. Nokia Siemens Networks, Vodafone Essar's existing infrastructure partner in 12 regions, undertook the new network roll out in ten months.

The planning and building of the seven networks was undertaken as in the first phase of a three year expansion contract awarded to NSN in 2008. Further expansion will carry on through 2010.