Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has reportedly issued an advanced work order (AWO) worth Rs 19.01 billion to ITI Limited (ITI) and its consortium partner Tera Software for developing and maintaining the middle-mile network under Package 15 of the BharatNet Phase-3 programme, which covers the northeastern region.
The contract includes Rs 11.68 billion allocated for capital expenditure (capex), Rs 7 billion as operating expenditure (opex) for the new infrastructure, and Rs 322.1 million for opex on the existing network. A formal agreement between BSNL and ITI is expected to follow the AWO, after which route-wise work orders are slated to be issued by the respective telecom circles, based on allocated quantities. Further, the duration for the agreement is 10 years.
BharatNet Phase-3 is designed to create, upgrade, operate, and maintain a robust middle-mile network using a design, build, operate and maintain (DBOM) model across 16 packages or telecom circles.
