BSNL board meet to decide on GSM tender

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL's) board will meet on Monday to take a final decision on the controversial 45 million GSM line deal that it signed with Swedish company Ericsson.

A three-member committee, members of which were not a part of BSNL's original tender evaluation committee, will submit its report by Monday for the board to evaluate.

Sources close to the development said one of the options before the board is to scrap the current tender and re-tender the contract. This, however, will mean a major delay for the company in getting its network ready and might mean losing customers to the private sector.

It will also have to face the ire of the BSNL staff association which is against re-tendering. The union has temporarily withdrawn its strike, having given the government a fortnight to sort out the matter.

The controversy arose when current Communications Minister A Raja questioned the award of the tender "" the biggest in the Indian telecom industry "" to Ericsson, disqualifying Motorola of the US and ZTE of China on technical grounds. The award was made under his predecessor Dayanidhi Maran.

The government was of the opinion that the tender, close to be awarded at $108 per line to Ericsson, was settled at a "high price". Existing global rates were around $90 per line for this kind of a tender.