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Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd, the company responsible for implementing the National Optical Fibre Network project, which aims to provide broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh village panchayats, has sent a legal notice to ITI, threatening to reject the latter’s technology-supply bid.
The bid in question is for a tender to procure Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON), a fixed-line broadband technology that enables data access at over 100 Mps. It can be used to provide triple play (voice, video and data) services through fibre-based networks.
In the notice, Bharat Broadband has told telecom equipment company ITI that if its bid is accepted, the nationwide project could be jeopardised — because of a dispute between ITI and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT). The two PSUs are battling it out over a technology transfer agreement.
The dispute In 2011, ITI signed an exclusive transfer-of-technology agreement with C-DoT, which has indigenously designed and developed GPON technology.
Under the terms of the deal, ITI would manufacture equipment for GPON-based broadband services using C-DoT’s technology.
But the agreement turned sour after ITI, expressing doubts about the competitiveness of C-DoT’s products, wrote to the Telecom Department seeking permission to source GPON technology from foreign suppliers.
The deal has a ‘Relationship’ clause, whereby ITI is not allowed to have a technology tie-up with any other vendor for GPON products.
ITI was not comfortable with this clause but consented after C-DoT agreed to include a letter under which ITI could look for alternative partners if the products were found to be unsatisfactory — after the tender. This meant that ITI would have to compulsorily bid for projects with C-DoT as its partner. Now, ITI wants to break the mandatory clause and have an additional technology-transfer partner. The telecom equipment company reckons that it has a better chance to win the National Optical Fibre Network Project if it is allowed flexibility to pick a partner.
This has been rejected by C-DoT on the grounds that none of the other vendors with a similar agreement had raised any concerns. It has asked ITI to bring out specific issues and address them jointly.
Legal notice Further, C-DoT wrote to Bharat Broadband stating that ITI’s bid should not be entertained. Taking cognisance of the complaint, Bharat Broadband’s legal counsel has sent a notice to ITI asking why its bid should be not rejected.
“…in case the issues raised by C-DoT are proved to be correct then there seems to be a strong possibility of a conflict of interest between C-DoT and ITI and a possible litigation between you two, entailing my client into the same for no fault on its part,” stated the legal notice sent by Bharat Broadband’s lawyers to ITI.
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