As if peeved by the vigilance authorities’ direction for a fresh or snap tender to procure equipment for BSNL, the telecom ministry has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that corporate rivalries were affecting the government’s decision-making.
Pointing out that a fresh or snap tender for an estimated Rs 36,000-crore GSM mobile equipment contract could still be challenged by corporate rivals, Telecom Minister A Raja brought to Singh’s notice various developments that have delayed the telecom PSU’s expansion for nearly two years.
BSNL had invited bids to add 93 million GSM lines two years ago and one of the leading vendors, Nokia-Siemens Network (NSN), was disqualified on technical issues. Since then, the PSU has not been able to place orders due to various reasons, including legal battles.
Swedish vendor Ericsson was the lowest bidder for the northern and eastern region, while China’s Huawei was selected for the southern zone.
NSN had challenged the disqualification in two high courts which had upheld BSNL’s decision.
“...In this regard, you will appreciate the trend where corporate rivalries are buffering decision-making in many ways in the government,” Raja said in his letter to the prime minister.
The minister said BSNL needed these lines badly in view of its rapidly declining market share and inadequate capacity to add subscribers might lead to further deterioration.
It has been more than 20 months that BSNL is trying to put in place the procurement order, Raja said in his letter, adding that “it appears that the CVC observations mainly pertain to rejection of NSN, which has been examined in detail and upheld by two high courts earlier”.
Earlier, a Department of Telecommunications Joint Secretary J S Deepak, who is on BSNL’s board as government nominee, had questioned the single bid brought out by BSNL and the lack of comparative analysis on the basis of total cost to the company.
