The Hindu Business Line : 6 tower infra firms make the cut for BSNL project

New Delhi, March 18 Telecom infrastructure companies including Acme, GTL Infra, Spanco and KEC have emerged as the lowest bidders for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s project to roll out passive cellular infrastructure across the country.

Passive infrastructure for mobile services includes setting up towers, power back-up, generator room and acquiring land for cell sites.

The combined value of the project is estimated to be over a billion dollar. The infrastructure to be set up by these companies will support 93 million mobile subscribers across the country.

The contract will be awarded after the bids are evaluated by BSNL’s technical and financial committee. The bids were invited zone wise. While the PSU had received bids from as many as four infrastructure firms for each zone, the contract will be awarded to the two lowest bidders in each zone. This contract is part of a $10 billion GSM project being undertaken by BSNL. The company will shortly open the bids for procuring radio equipment and software and billing solutions.

This will be the first time that BSNL will be outsourcing infrastructure creation to private sector companies. The move is in line with the company’s strategy to focus on its core strengths.

Four segments

BSNL had divided its 93 million line expansion contract into four parts. Part 1 includes setting up network for GSM- based 2G mobile services.

The second part involves rolling out third generation (3G) network.

The third segment will be awarded to companies which can set up the passive infrastructure including towers, power generation rooms and other basic equipment required for a cell site.

The fourth part is related to software and billing solution. The bids are being evaluated at the zonal level unlike the earlier practice wherein the BSNL headquarters decided on these projects.