Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has sought reimbursement of Rs 990 million from the government due to the additional operations and maintenance (O&M) cost that it would incur under the 4G saturation project arising from the delay in delivery and commissioning of evolved node B (eNB) by the supplier.
In a letter to administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), BSNL has urged to compensate additional O&M to be incurred as an exceptional case for approximately 9,000 sites at Rs 55,000 per site for two quarters.
As per the letter, BSNL stated that there is a delay in the installation and commissioning of core in four zones by TCS, and this situation may persist for an average of six months.
The consortium, led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is supplying indigenously-developed 4G solution to BSNL. It includes the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and Tejas Networks which are providing core and radio equipment, respectively. BSNL is further proceeding with the installation and commissioning of towers and passive infrastructure which will enable TCS to quickly deploy eNB after receipt of equipment.
