Motorola Gets Raw End from BSNL

Motorola Gets Raw End from BSNL

Techtree News Staff, Nov 02, 2006 1451 hrs IST

The Delhi High Court has stopped state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited from awarding the GSM contract to short-listed winners, Ericsson and Nokia.

According to reports, the Delhi High Court has stopped state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) from awarding a GSM contract to short-listed winners, Ericsson and Nokia, till the next date of hearing scheduled for November 16.

In October this year, Motorola, which did not figure among the winners of the multi-billion dollar GSM equipment contract, challenged BSNL's decision before the High Court. BSNL had disqualified Motorola from the GSM bidding, citing technical grounds.

The petition filed by Motorola, challenging BSNL's decision, was heard by a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice, Vijender Jain, and Justice Kailash Gambhir.

BSNL on its part issued a statement, in which its Director of Finance, S D Saxena, said that they respect the direction of the Delhi High Court, and that since the matter is subjudice, they cannot give any further comments on the same.

In October, BSNL had opened financial bids for its GSM mega expansion plan. The intent of the plan is to add over 45 million lines over a period of three years, at an estimated cost of around Rs 20,000 crores. In the course of the bidding, Ericsson emerged as the lowest bidder, followed by Nokia.

BSNL is reportedly in the process of evaluation of financial bids of both players, with the process of evaluation expected to be complete shortly. Further, in the event of selection post evaluation, Ericsson would be likely awarded 60 percent of the contract, while Nokia would be given the remaining 40 percent of the mega expansion project.