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Even as the Telecom Commission is set to review the progress in establishing mobile services in Naxal-affected regions in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal on Friday, foreign equipment makers and vendors have stayed away from bidding for the project.
The project is to be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), set up with a share of the revenue of private telecom operators. The fund is used to subsidise telecom infrastructure in rural India.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which is implementing the project, is learnt to have shortlisted two Indian companies - Vihaan Networks Ltd (VNL) and Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) - as the preferred vendors.
Initially, 11 companies had shown interest at a pre-bid conference, but most, especially foreign ones, stayed away from bidding, considering the socio-political situation in these areas, said an official privy to the matter.
In August, BSNL had floated a tender for supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of 1,315 sites of 2G GSM network in Naxal-hit areas in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal for five years.
While state-owned ITI would be given 30 per cent of the work, the remaining 70 per cent would be distributed between VNL and HFCL, the official said.
According to government estimates, to manage the sites for five years, BSNL will need Rs 1,469 crore as capital expenditure to set up 1,836 towers, and Rs 1,577 crore as operating expenses. The government has already said BSNL will be provided the entire amount through the USOF.
Earlier, the Planning Commission had told the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) the telecom ministry should restrict USOF support for state-run telecom companies to Rs 3,046 crore, the estimated capital and operating expenditures to install and manage the mobile towers.
Meanwhile, the Department of Telecommunications has said it might extend support to BSNL for its operating expenses towards mobile towers in areas affected by Naxal activities even beyond five years, as most of the towers will be in rural areas and might not be viable commercially after that period.
According to estimates by the home ministry, about 56,000 inhabited villages aren't covered by telecom service providers. Of these, 2,199 are in villages in the nine Naxal-affected states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
