Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited?s (BSNL) mobile network expansion plans have been put on a fast track. The company had, in 2011, floated a tender for 14.37 million lines under Phase 7 of its expansion plans for the country?s north, east and south zones. It has recently concluded the technical evaluation of the bids and is now preparing for the financial bids, which will be conducted under an e-tendering process. The purchase orders are expected to be placed by end-February.
BSNL had initiated the bidding process for this tender in July 2011. The tender includes planning, financing, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and annual maintenance of the lines. Companies with a minimum turnover of Rs 80 billion in the past two years will be eligible to participate. It is believed that all major telecom equipment makers like Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks will participate in the bidding process.
BSNL has been in urgent need of network expansion and enhancement. It has been suffering from a severe capacity crunch for many years, which has significantly impacted business growth. Moreover, being a state-run operator, it faces bureaucratic delays, and is subject to lengthy tendering processes and frequent interference from the government.
In the past, BSNL has tried to float a tender for network expansion four times. The last tender finalised by the company under Phase 5 of its expansion plan was in 2006 for 45 million lines, which was reduced to 14 million lines in 2007. Subsequently, the company floated two more tenders for 93 million lines in 2008 and 5.5 million lines in 2010, but both were later cancelled.
