Ericsson has accepted BSNL’s purchase order for supplying 13.2 million GSM lines at $95 per line.

Ericsson has accepted BSNL’s purchase order for supplying 13.2 million GSM lines at $95 per line. The Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer has already paid the bank guarantee to BSNL. BSNL has now offered an advance purchase order (APO) to NokiaSiemens, the second lowest bidder, for around 9.5 million GSM lines. Meanwhile, the PSU will invite fresh bids for installing up to 50 million GSM lines to further expand its cellular capacity. The BSNL board is yet to decide on whether or not the bids should include 3G. The entire process of inviting bids to granting the final order is expected to take eight to nine months.