Alcatel-Lucent May Be Back-Up Vendor to Huawei's Indian Contract

More confusion over BSNL's mammoth GSM network tender after it emerged that Alcatel-Lucent may be asked to act as a back-up vendor for the contract awarded to Huawei covering the southern end of the country. The telco was told by the Department of Telecoms to be particularly vigilant when testing Huawei supplied hardware to ensure there are no exploits in the software installed at the request of the Chinese government.

Local media reported that if complications do arise, then Alcatel-Lucent may be asked to take over the contract, although it would be expected to match Huawei's tender prices.

Meanwhile, Nokia Siemens Networks has approached the Delhi High Court to get a review of its tender, which was rejected in its entirety by BSNL on "technical grounds". The Delhi High Court dismissed the action, as BSNL successfully argued that the tenders covered the Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata circles and any legal action should be argued with the local High Courts in those cities.

Nokia Siemens Networks has already approached Central Vigilance Commission after making allegations that BSNL changed the tender details and transparency issues with the processes.

BSNL has apparently shortlisted Ericsson for 25-million lines for the North Zone and 18-million lines for the East Zone, while giving Huawei 25-million lines for the South Zone. The Western Zone is in limbo with BSNL initially wanting to award the contract to Huawei, but then being told by the government not to. A BSNL spokesman later contended that the Western Zone was not a priority anyway.

The company is still to make the formal announcement as to who the winners will be. The various contracts are estimated to be collectively worth around US$6.5 billion.

Posted to the site on 22nd May 2009