Motorola to bid if BSNL calls for fresh tender

In the thick of a controversy over its disqualification from the 45.5 million GSM line tender by BSNL, US-based telecom vendor Motorola today said it would once again join the race if fresh bids were called.

"If there is a request for proposal to the tender, we will re-bid... It all depends on the specifications of the revised tender...We will certainly be in the run," Motorola India President Amit Sharma said here at an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India seminar.

"Vide this tender we will participate in all future BSNL tenders," Sharma said, adding his company had withdrawn the petition challenging its disqualification from the contract because it did not want to harm the interest of BSNL and wanted to forge a working partnership with the public sector undertaking.

Expressing surprise on having been disqualified from the 45.5 million GSM tender, he said, "We had been globally getting high value tenders...If we qualify globally, why can't we do it in India."

Motorola had participated along with its Chinese partner ZTE in the contract two years ago but a technical evaluation done by a panel had disqualified the company on the grounds of 3G equipment delivery incapability.

However, fresh bids for the tender appear bleak. BSNL's board has sent proposals to Communications Minister A Raja. It has stuck to its decision of disqualifying Motorola despite Raja questioning the US-based company's disqualification from the process.

The revised tender proposal of 23 million lines also comprises a 3G component, on the basis of which Motorola was earlier disqualified.

A final decision on the matter rests with the minister, who is expected to take a call in the next four to five days.