Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) plans to float a $3.5 billion tender, a third of which will be reserved for public sector telecom equipment company ITI, according to news reports.
The operator intends to procure equipment for 40 million GSM lines. BSNL is yet to decide if it wants to go in for a single contract, or split it into two tenders for 20 million GSM lines over a two-year period. This contract will provide the company with sufficient capacity till 2013.
This will be in addition to the 5.5-million GSM lines tender that it floated recently.
