BSNL barred from awarding GSM deal

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has suffered a minor setback as the Delhi High Court has restrained them from awarding any contract for its GSM network expansion till the next hearing on November 16.

This decision was taken by a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir. They were hearing the petition filed by Motorola. Motorola was disqualified by BSNL on technical parameters from participating in the bidding.

The original tender was opened last month for the mega expansion of its GSM network to add over 45 million lines over a period of three years. The project is worth around Rs 20,000 crore and Ericsson had emerged as the bidder with the lowest offer.

S D Saxena, director (finance) of BSNL spoke on this decision of the court: “We respect the direction of the High Court. Since the matter is subjudice, we cannot comment further in this regard.”