Thursday June 20, 12:00 AM
Reliance Infocom may choose multiple vendors
By Ambar Singh Roy
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KOLKATA, June 19
RELIANCE (RELI.BO, news) Infocom Ltd is all set to finalise its choice of equipment vendors for its nationwide WLL (wireless in local loop) basic telecom network project.
A host of hardware vendors such as Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Samsung and Nortel Networks, among others, are in the fray for the multi-million dollar deal, company sources said.
According to informed sources, Reliance had almost settled for Nortel Networks as its principal equipment vendor, but a rethink on the issue has since taken place. The current thinking, according to sources, is that it would be prudent to award the contract to more than one vendor instead of settling for a single vendor.
As is known, Reliance has bagged the basic service provider's licence in respect of 18 telecom circles across the country. In all the telecom circles for which Reliance has bagged the licence, the limited mobility, WLL services based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology would be on offer.
A total of over 96,000 km of fibre optic cables shall be laid as part of the national long distance infrastructure project. Besides, the project entails the setting up of 3,000 base terminal stations (BTS) and 40 switching centres. About 70 per cent of the work in this regard is stated to be complete.
The sources said that a nationwide roll-out of limited mobility basic telecom services was expected to take off before the end of the current calendar year. Talks were under way to finalise a partner who would supply the CDMA handsets.
Already, Reliance has launched its cellular mobile services in seven circles — Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and the North-East. At present, it has a base of over four lakh cellular customers. |
