BSNL keeps 'fresh bids' option open in expansion project

State-owned BSNL today said it was negotiating hard with telecom equipment suppliers — Ericsson and Huawei — for its Rs 32,000 crore project, to expand GSM network by 93 million lines, but has kept open the option for re-inviting bids if the talks lead nowhere.

"We are negotiating with the vendors on a fast track (and) hope to finalise it within a week or two," BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said.

Asked whether the PSU was looking for retendering the 93 million GSM lines-expansion order, Goyal said: "We are keeping that option open. If we are able to get a reasonable price from the present vendors, then we may not retender."

BSNL had chosen the bids submitted by Ericsson and Huawei, while rejecting the offers made by three other vendors — Nokia Siemens, ZTE and Alcatel Lucent. BSNL is yet to place the Advanced Purchase Orders (APOs).

Nokia-Siemens had challenged the rejection by BSNL and a final verdict on it is still pending in courts.

The PSU has also come under attack for non-transparency with only one vendor for each region. But BSNL said it was a competitive bidding. "Bids are supposed to be competitive. They are global bids," Goyal reasoned.

BSNL had floated a tender last year for procuring equipment to expand its GSM network by 93 million lines in four zones — North, West, South and East.

After evaluating technical bids, Ericsson was considered for the North and Eastern regions, while Huawei was offered the Southern region.