Nortel, Nokia Lead In BSNL Tender
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Nortel, Nokia Lead In BSNL Tender
OUR EFE BUREAU
NEW DELHI, KOLKATA: The global telecom equipment suppliers Nortel Networks and Nokia have emerged as the lowest bidders for the Rs 3,750 crore worth expansion project of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
BSNL had floated tenders to install 11 million GSM (global system for mobile communication) lines in Februray this year. Three different tenders were floated for three different regions: north (4 million lines), south (4 million lines) and east (3 million lines). Commercial bids for these tenders were opened by BSNL late night on Wednesday.
Though Nortel has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) in all three regions, it will have to surrender the northern region in favour of Nokia, which is the second lowest bidder (L2) in the region. According to BSNL’s tender conditions, one vendor cannot bag orders for all three regions and it will have to surrender one region to the second lowest bidder in the region where the margin between L1 and L2 is the lowest. Going by the BSNL rules, Nortel will have to give the northern region to Nokia as the difference of bids in that region is the least.(see chart)
When contacted by eFE, a highly placed BSNL official confirmed that Nokia might get the northern region as per tender conditions.
“However, this is the first round of results based on the commercial bids. The final contract will be awarded only after the bids are evaluated on the basis of technology, which may take 2-3 weeks,” the BSNL official said.
A Nortel official also confirmed the development but declined to go on record. Nokia officials could not be reached for comments.
The BSNL insiders also pointed out that ranking of vendors on commercial bid basis might also undergo a minor change after technical evaluation.
BSNL officials would closely scruitnised the technical specifications and may add or remove some equipments to be offered by vendors, leading to a change in the final price.
According to the industry and BSNL sources, Nortel had bid Rs 3,370 per line in the northern region, while Nokia quoted Rs 3,428 per line.
All this will translate the overall project budget to be in the range of Rs 1,350 to Rs 1,380 crore for 4 million lines in the northern region.
Eight telecom equipment suppliers including Nokia, Motorola, Alcatel, Nortel and Ericsson had submitted bids for supplying 11 million GSM lines in the three regions.
The two Chinese companies namely Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation were also in the fray. |
