The central government has awarded the Rs 10.72 billion Kochi-Lakshadweep (KLI) submarine fibre cable project to NEC India.
The move has been undertaken despite allegations of foul play by domestic telecom equipment manufacturers. Earlier, the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Corporation (TEPC) had accused the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) of flouting guidelines and tweaking tender conditions to favour Japan’s NEC for the contract.
Further, the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA) and TEPC members had complained to the prime minister’s officer (PMO), the DoT, and the NITI Aayog that the tender favours only one company – NEC India.
BSNL had invited bids, for the design, engineering, planning, supply and deployment of a submarine cable system linking mainland Kochi and Lakshadweep Islands using 6-fibre pairs with 200 Gbps of initial traffic capacity on March 10, 2021. The project aims to connect islands such as Androth, Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat, Bitra, Bangaram, Agatti, Kavaratiti, Kalpeni and Minicoy with the condition of a repeatered segment from Kochi to Minicoy while keeping 12 non-repeatered segments.
