BSNL expansion plan hits rough patch

A big controversy on procurement of Rs 35,000-crore worth of equipment by telecom behemoth BSNL is brewing, with the position taken by the two government nominees on the board threatening the expansion programme of the state-owned telecom major.

Ericsson, the lowest bidder, has further reduced its price after negotiations for the GSM expansion contract. However, the two government nominees — Joint Secretary J S Deepak and a senior DoT official, P K Mittal — have raised some proprietary issues concerning the tender that was cleared in early 2009.

BSNL’s chairman declined to get into the matter, but said “the Board will look into all the issues and take appropriate decision”.

Cancellation or any delay in the contract could hit hard BSNL, at a time when the government was thinking of disinvestment, a senior official said on condition of anonymity, adding that in such an eventuality only corporate rivals could benefit.

A note given by Deepak has raised questions on the process followed by BSNL in evaluating the tender, as allegedly against CVC guidelines.

“It was a single bid throughout the country... And BSNL has not done a comparative analysis on the basis of total cost to the company,” the note by Deepak said.

When contacted, he said, “This was a comment to BSNL as a Board member and government nominee” adding that a similar note was also submitted by P K Mittal.

BSNL officials said some vested interests do not want this tender to go through.

Asked whether some DoT officials were interfering in the tender business of the PSU, the officials declined to elaborate but said someone was working so that it (93 million GSM lines tender) did not go through.

According to sources, Ericsson, the lowest bidder for the Northern and Eastern region, has lowered the price to a level seen in the last tender and this was the desired level.

The note by Deepak has said the 93-million-line tender should be reconsidered indicating that it could either be scrapped or the size could be reduced.
 

NETWORK CONGESTION

* The major equipment supplier Ericsson has lowered its price substantially after negotiations for the GSM expansion contract

* The two government nominees — Joint Secretary J S Deepak and a senior DoT official P K Mittal — have raised some proprietary issues concerning the tender that was cleared early 2009

* Cancellation or any delay in the contract could hit hard BSNL at a time when government is thinking of disinvestment

* Questions have been raissed on the process followed by BSNL in evaluating the tender 

* Some BSNL officials say someone is working so that the 93 million GSM lines tender does not go through

* The DoT note has said that the 93 million tender should be reconsidered indicating it could either be scrapped or the size of the tender could be reduced

* BSNL has been losing market share to private sector due to its inability in timely adding the capacity and executing projects in view of government hurdles

BSNL has been losing market share to the private sector due to its inability in timely adding to capacity and executing projects in view of government hurdles.

On the issue that there was only one bidder throughout the country, Ericsson in the North and East and Huawei in the South, BSNL’s CMD had said that at the time of inviting bids there were other players, too.

It was only after the technical evaluation that the single bidder remained in the fray.

Earlier, BSNL had put on hold the Advance Purchase Order to Huawei, saying conditional acceptance of orders cannot be entertained by the PSU.