Alcatel, ITI bag BSNL bid

Alcatel-Lucent and the state-owned telecom equipment manufacturing major ITI have together bagged a multi-million euro contract for supply and installation of 2 million GSM lines for Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).

Alcatel-Lucent will provide GSM/EDGE technology to the state-owned telecom operator for expansion of mobile networks in western India.

"The expansion of the GSM network, particularly in rural areas, will improve the lives of millions in the country. ITI has been the leading face of GSM/EDGE base station manufacturing in the country and Alcatel-Lucent is building an advanced GSM/EDGE mobile network in the country," said Pritam Singh, chairman and managing director ITI.

According to Alcatel-Lucent's President, Olivier Picard, "The long-term collaboration between Alcatel-Lucent and ITI will enable BSNL to roll out mobile networks rapidly and enable them to provide high-quality communications services to their customers."

ITI offers a complete range of telecom products covering whole spectrum of switching, transmission, access and customer premise equipment.