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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (11802)	6/19/2001 7:53:52 AM
From: foundation	Respond to of 197278

Cash-strapped BSNL cuts WLL tender size Neeraja Kumar in New Delhi Lack of funds has forced Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to downsize its tender for urban telephony based on wireless in local loop (WLL) code division multiple access (CDMA) technology from 16 lakh lines to 5 lakh lines. However, the fund crunch has not led to any review of its plan to procure the more expensive and outdated V5.2 interface for IS95A CDMA platform. The tender, which would have earlier cost the BSNL nearly Rs 2,400 crore for 16 lakh lines, will now cost the company between Rs 750-800 crore, informed BSNL sources. The BSNL had earlier planned to bring out a tender of 16 lakh lines to be implemented over two years in two phases of 8 lakh lines each. However, according to sources, “Si nce there was not enough money budgeted for this huge an investment, BSNL has been forced to cut down the size of the tender.” According to a Delhi-based telecom expert, “The cost per line for a V5.2 interface comes to around Rs 15,000-Rs 16,000, based on the infrastructure cost in the rural tender brought out by BSNL late last year. If however, the specifications were changed to a mobile switching centre (MSC) interface, the cost per line would go down to Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 per line.” Therefore, if the BSNL was to use MSC’s instead of V5.2 then the cost for the entire tender should go down to Rs 400-500 crore for 5 lakh lines based on MSC specifications, rather than Rs 750-800 crore if V5.2 is used. While the private basic operators have been opposing the use of V5.2 being made mandatory on the grounds that it is obsolete and up to 40 per cent more expensive than the alternate MSC, BSNL is going ahead with its tender instead of waiting for the resolution of the V5.2 imbroglio. BSNL officials say that the tender specifications have been issued in compliance with the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) making the use of V5.2 mandatory in WLL networks. However, industry experts are questioning the rush in which the tender is being placed, specially since the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also opposed the TRAI recommendation of making the V5.2 interface mandatory on the grounds that apart from being an older, more expensive technology, it can not even prevent full scale mobility. In a tariff order released in May, the TRAI had recommended that the “WLL system, should be directly connected to the local exchange by using V5.2 interface.” The TRAI is in favour of strictly prohibiting use of MSC-based architecture in the basic operator networks, claiming that this would tantamount to a fully mobile CDMA network. financialexpress.com