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Jun. 25, 2007

L.M. Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are about to land a $4.5 billion deal with Nigam Ltd.

Nigam is India's third largest mobile operator.

The company says it's ready to place an advanced order for the first phase of a project that aims to offer high-speed data applications, beginning with about 800,000 ADSL connections priced at $100 to $103 per line.

BSNL has stated publicly that it intends to build six million broadband connections and that it might opt to add an additional three million over the next 3 years.

For its part, L.M. Ericsson is slated to pick up about 60 percent of the contract, while Nokia Siemens is expected to get the rest of the pact to provide BSNL with 45.5 million GSM lines.

In November 2006, an Indian court issued an injunction preventing BSNL from doling out its multibillion-dollar network expansion project contract after Motorola claimed to have been eliminated from the bidding process for alleged technical shortcomings.

Various reports in the Indian press indicate that the court battle has been resolved and BSNL is now ready to move forward with its contract awards and subsequent network buildout.

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Source: Wireless Week