BSNL Cancels 4G Tender, Employees Say Private Lobby Succeeded

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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Wednesday cancelled its 4G tender that the operator issued in March. The tender required the vendors to deal with the “planning, engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning & annual maintenance of 4G mobile network.” BSNL estimated that the winners of the tender would deal with 50,000 sites of BSNL across India and 7000 sites of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) in Delhi and Mumbai circles. Following multiple delays, BSNL had estimated that the tenders would be opened in late June.

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BSNL Cancels 4G Tender Following DoT Directions

However, the escalated confrontation between the Chinese soldiers and Indian soldiers in mid June had resulted in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) placing restrictions on BSNL from sourcing telecom gear from Chinese vendors. Additionally, Niti Aayog, the Indian government’s policy think tank is said to have suggested BSNL to go for indigenously designed, developed and manufactured products for its 4G network.

BSNL in late June highlighted that the tender is “postponed” to mid July before setting a new tentative date of August 18 for the opening of the tender.

The DoT on June 22 set up a committee “for recommending technical specifications” for BSNL 4G tender. The committee consists of the chairperson of DoT along with its director general and representatives from BSNL and MTNL. The DoT said that the committee will “examine” and “help BSNL” in refining its 4G tender. Crucially, DoT said that the committee will come up with its recommendations in two weeks.