"On Monday, the board is going to meet to take a decision on the review of the tender and we will come out with solutions which will be acceptable to everybody," BSNL's director of finance S D Saxena told PTI. All options, which take care of BSNL's interests will be explored at the meeting, he said.
BSNL has also consulted its legal advisors on the issue. The urgency of the board meeting assumes importance as BSNL employees' union, which went on strike this week demanding immediate placement of order to check subscribers' loss, has given 15 days' time to the PSU to arrive at a decision on the same.
The tender has come under scrutiny of Telecom Minister A Raja, who had asked the PSU to renegotiate the price with the lowest bidder Ericsson, which quoted a price of 107 dollars per line. Raja had asked BSNL to seek a price of 90 dollars.
The meeting on Monday will also take a decision on the response to be given to Raja who has also raised the issue of disqualification of US-based Motorola from the tendering process despite being the lowest bidder. BSNL said Motorola was not capable of delivering 3G equipment.
The board is also expected to consider proposals on the issue of whether to go ahead with the 3G plans as envisaged in the tender or to reduce this component. The telecom minister wants to PSU to focus on 2G mobile services and drop the 3G part as there is no policy on it at present.
In case the board decides to focus only on 2G part for the immediate future there is a possibility that Motorola may be allowed to re-bid.
© 2025