Following the security agencies’ opposition to award the contract to build 25 million wireless lines in the west zone to Huawei, BSNL has decided to give the $2 billion equipment contract to Indian Telephone Industries

Following the security agencies’ opposition to award the contract to build 25 million wireless lines in the west zone to Huawei, BSNL has decided to give the $2 billion equipment contract to Indian Telephone Industries. The state-owned operator is not in favour of issuing a new tender, fearing further delays. The original contract for the deployment of 93 million GSM lines was awarded to Ericsson for the north and east zones, and Huawei for the west and south zones. In the face of the opposition, BSNL could not award the contract for the west zone to Ericsson since the tender conditions did not allow one company to be allotted more than two zones.