The Hindu Business Line : BSNL awards $90-m contract to Motorola

Revised tender norms
Non-profit making equipment makers allowed to supply mobile network gear.
Companies without manufacturing facilities can bid for the contract
Tender divided into different parts of the network including core equipment, IT, billing among others.

Thomas K Thomas

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New Delhi, May 21 In a bid to stay out of controversies, State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has diluted its procurement norms and will allow non-profit making equipment makers to supply mobile network gear.

BSNL’s earlier tender for 45 million lines was highly controversial after the company had disallowed loss-making manufacturers from even bidding for the project.

As a result, Motorola was not permitted to submit its bid.

But now BSNL has given $90 million contract to Motorola to supply GSM network equipment for supporting an additional 2.3 million subscribers in the southern region.

This contract is an expansion on the deal signed between BSNL and Motorola in 2003 and has no direct link to the PSU diluting its procurement norms.

However, Motorola will be able to bid for BSNL’s upcoming 93 million line project, which is estimated to be worth $10 billion.

Less stringent

BSNL has also done away with the requirement that its suppliers should already have a manufacturing facility in India if they want to bid for projects.

As per the new tender conditions for supply of 93 million GSM lines, companies without manufacturing facilities can bid for the contract and need to set up a unit in the country only if they win the tender.

In another move, the company has divided the tender into different parts of the network including core equipment, IT, billing among others. This will enable BSNL to directly negotiate with different types of vendors rather than go through a single system integrator.

In the previous project, some of the IT vendors were peeved after BSNL allowed suppliers to deploy equipment that was not part of the initial purchase order at the request of the system integrator.

Other stringent norms also eliminated most of the equipment makers leaving only Ericsson and Nokia Siemens to supply.

Huge capacity crunch

After Nokia Siemens walked out of the deal on the grounds of unfair pricing, BSNL has been facing huge capacity crunch.

The diluted procurement norms will mean that none of the manufacturers would be eliminated prior to the bidding process.

Commenting on the new contract, Mr Subhendu Mohanty, country lead for Home & Networks Mobility, Motorola India, said, “We are delighted to announce that BSNL has chosen Motorola to address its critical 2G network expansion requirement. This year marks 20 years of Motorola’s commitment to the Indian market and we are proud to be a part of the telecom growth story. We will endeavour to grow our market engagements and deliver maximum value to our customers, be it serving their current needs or planning for future growth.”

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