Ericsson Lowest BSNL Order Bidder; Evaluation Begins

STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Ericsson has qualified in the technical evaluation and emerged as the lowest bidder for a contract from Indian telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), an Ericsson spokeswoman said Monday.

"Now a complete evaluation of our offer will be done by the customer," said Ericsson spokeswoman Aase Lindskog.

Ericsson expects this evaluation to take some weeks, Lindskog said.

Lindskog said BSNL aims to have two suppliers with 60% of the order going to one company and 40% to the other.

Local media in India Monday reported Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens had all passed the technical evaluation for the INR200 billion (US$4.4 billion) tender while China's ZTE and Motorola hadn't.

-By Magnus Hansson, Dow Jones Newswires; +46 8 545 130 91; magnus.hansson@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 9th October 2006