The Hindu Business Line : Motorola bags $307-m orders from BSNL, MTNL, Tata Tele

MOTOROLA'S Global Telecom Solutions Sector (GTSS) has announced business wins of wireless equipment agreements worth over $307 million from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Tata Teleservices Ltd.

These agreements include deployment of new networks, as well as expansion and upgrades of existing networks for both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems.

According to an official statement, most of the $307 million in announced winswere reported in Motorola's 2003 results and the majority of the revenue is expected to be recognised in 2004.

"India is expected to add at least 25 million new subscribers in 2004 which presents a tremendous business opportunity. Motorola is aggressively focused on growing its market-share in the Indian wireless infrastructure market. Winning a significant portion of new contracts being awarded is the first step in that direction," said Mr Simon L.K. Leung, Senior Vice-President, Motorola, and General Manager, GTSS - Asia Pacific.

Motorola has been awarded GSM business by BSNL and MTNL. For BSNL, Motorola has been awarded the business for expansion of over one million lines in south India. This turnkey project includes value-added services such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

Motorola won the MTNL business as a result of a public tender to increase the number of GSM lines by 4,00,000 each in Delhi and Mumbai. The upgrade will be GPRS-enabled and is capable of smoothly evolving to EDGE. The Motorola network will also deliver value-added services such as Pre-paid and Intelligent Networks and a complete billing solution for 1.5 million customers across the two cities, the statement notes.

The company has been awarded a CDMA contract by Tata Teleservices to expand the CDMA2000 1 X mobile phone network in Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Mumbai.