Spanco-led consortium wins WAN project

A consortium led by Spanco Telesystems & Solutions and Indian Telecom Industries (ITI) has won the Maharashtra State Wide Area Network (MS-WAN) project.

A government-to-citizen initiative of Maharashtra state, the project is expected to earn around Rs 500-600 crore for the company over the next five-seven year period.

The project was awarded after a competitive bidding, which also saw participation of two other consortiums, one by Bharat Electronics and GTL and another by Tata group companies "" Tata Consultancy Services and CMC.

The last leg of bidding had concluded recently, following which it was awarded to the Spanco-ITI combine, sources in Maharashtra government said.

When contacted Spanco chairman and managing director Kapil Puri said the company has received Letters of Intent (LoI) for executing the project under a build operate transfer model for 5 years.

"However, we are yet to get the confirmation and we would be able to comment only after receiving it," he added.

According to government sources, the value of the contract for the first phase is around Rs 105 crore.

Under the first phase of the contract, a vertical IT backbone would be set up in the state with Mantralaya as the hub.

The project cost is slated to escalate to Rs 200 crore in the next two years, while it would soar to around Rs 500-600 crore in five to seven years.

The MSWAN project aims to set up a telecommunications infrastructure across the state that will enable delivery of voice, data and video applications. The state will connect all government offices, talukas and tehsils on an Internet backbone with Mantralaya as the hub.

Internet kiosks would be set up across the state, enabling citizens to file in applications and mail in their grievances and suggestions. This is under the e-commerce initiatives of the central government, which is rolling out similar projects across the country.