The Hindu Business Line : DoT writes to BSNL on procurement delay

THE Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has expressed concern at the delay caused by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in the procurement of key telecom infrastructure equipment necessary for achieving tele-density targets.

The department has said that the delay is adversely affecting the quality of service and spread of telephone facility across the country.

In a missive written by Mr Nripendra Mishra, Secretary, DoT, to Mr V.P. Sinha, Chairman, BSNL, the department has asked the state-owned telecom major to fix responsibility on individuals for delayed decision making. "It was emphasised time and again that the delay would seriously hurt the subscriber base of BSNL. BSNL functional directors had promised in each such review meeting that the decision making process would be made more efficient both in terms of depth of evaluation and the total time taken in processing of the tenders," the letter said.

DoT has asked BSNL to expedite the procurement process in the case of 6 projects, which has been delayed beyond four months. These tenders include that of 15 million SIM cards for mobile services, National Internet Backbone Project covering 200 cities, digital satellite phone terminal, annual maintenance contract for hardware and software and lawful interception and monitoring equipment.

When contacted senior BSNL officials said that negotiations with equipment vendors on most of these projects are in closing stages and the purchase order would be issued soon.

The lengthy procedures followed by BSNL to procure equipment, had come under scrutiny a number of times earlier. BSNL itself had complained that it was finding it difficult to compete with private players because it had to follow a lengthy tendering process, which in turn delayed the roll out. In contrast, private operators were able to quickly deploy equipment by negotiating with vendors across the table.

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