State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is expected to award a Rs 1,000-crore purchase order to Finnish Nokia for optical transport network (OTN) equipment procurement and deployment via a local system integrator, raising the ire of India's indigenous telecom operators.

 

"This is a very unfortunate situation and discourages Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). BSNL has disqualified United Telecoms Limited (UTL) and Tejas Networks on shoddy grounds as well as tweaked the original terms and conditions to suit foreign companies," Rakesh Kumar Bhatnagar, director general, Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (Voice) added.

 

Recently, the Delhi-based domestic industry group has also written a "strongly-worded letter" to the communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking immediate intervention. Teamed up with the state-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) for core, Bangalore-based UTL participated in the bidding process, but was declined on the basis of awaited 'trusted source' approval and the absence of bank guarantee (BG), as per ETTelecom. 

 

Interestingly, C-DoT is a member of a consortium funded by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and is already delivering core equipment to BSNL's ongoing future generation (4G) network implementation following a proof-of-concept (PoC).

 

UTL participated in the bidding process by offering indigenously developed and manufactured products through its subsidiary Priyaraja Electronics, which is an MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprise) and qualifies for a relaxation in the earnest money deposit (EMD) condition as defined by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

 

"It (BSNL) has even not opened a bid by UTL-C-DoT saying it had no trusted product which, however, can only be applied through a service provider, and their (BSNL) intent is apparently in contradiction to the government's vision of promoting India-made telecom gear," Bhatnagar added.