Huawei Wins 9 Million GSM Line Contract from India's BSNL

­India's BSNL has denied reports that it is considering retendering its already oft-tendered GSM network expansion contracts. Some reports had suggested that the Department of Telecommunications wanted the tenders put out again due to a lack of competition in the latest rounds.

That the tenders were run several times and had onerous pricing constraints has been previously cited as discouraging bidders.

BSNL chairman, Kuldeep Goyal however confirmed that Huawei had finally been awarded the tender for 8 million GSM lines in India's southern region. Earlier this year, plans to award the southern region to Huawei were delayed due to security concerns expressed by the government and Alcatel-Lucent was reported to be on standby to take over the contract. The contract was however for 25 million lines, leaving 16 million lines still vacant.

Talks with Ericsson over the north and eastern regions are still ongoing. Those tenders would involve 25-million lines for the North Zone and 18-million lines for the East Zone.

While BSNL's contract is for 93 million GSM lines, no one bidder will be able to win more than 50 million lines - and will be committed to offering replacement parts and maintenance for at least seven years. The tender document splits the allocation into four sections - three of 25 million lines for the North, West and South - with 18 million lines for the East. Of the total, some 21 million lines must be provisioned for 3G services as well as GSM.

The various contracts are estimated to be collectively worth around US$6.5 billion.

Posted to the site on 9th November 2009