Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005 |
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Telecommunications Info-Tech - Alliances & Joint Ventures BSNL ends tie-up with VSNL for international long distance calls — Floats global tender for setting up own network Thomas K. Thomas
New Delhi , July 19 BHARAT Sanchar Nigam Ltd has finally decided to end the tie-up with the Tata-managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd for carrying its international long distance (ILD) calls and has floated a multi-million-dollar global tender to set up its own network. The tender issued on Monday is expected to attract global players such as AT&T, Sprint and MCI to bid for the project. BSNL with nearly 55-million telephone lines account for ILD traffic worth Rs 4,000 crore every year. Though VSNL's monopoly ended in 2002 when the Government opened up the sector to other players, a significant part of BSNL's ILD traffic was being routed through VSNL's infrastructure owing to an agreement with the Government at the time of divesting stake to the Tata Group. BSNL board has, however, been wanting to break away from this relationship for quite some time on the grounds that it could get better commercial terms from other carriers through competitive bidding. Recently, BSNL gave away a part of the ILD traffic to other operators — Reliance Infocomm and Bharti — on a temporary arrangement. The new tender would put in place a permanent ILD network for BSNL comprising undersea cable operators and satellite service providers. BSNL will also directly negotiate the settlement rates with the international carriers and also own the switches, gateways and the landing stations required to operate an ILD network. The bids will be opened on August 19. This could also mean reduced ILD tariffs for consumers. "In order to provide its ILD telecom services independently, BSNL requires international bandwidth on optical fibre submarine cable system (OFSCS) and satellite media from eligible Indian ILD operators, foreign carriers and other international bandwidth providers. Expression of interest has been invited to empanel eligible bidders to supply, commission and maintain international bandwidth in order to enable BSNL meet the demand for international bandwidth for its ILD voice, international private leased circuit (IPLC) and data services," said a senior BSNL official. The agreement with successful bidder will be for a two-year period. Meanwhile, the Tatas have already filed a suit against the Government for not giving enough compensation to VSNL for ending its monopoly two years in advance in 2002.
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