Chinese vendors banned from bidding for GSM lines

Following a government directive, BSNL has put ban on Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from bidding for its projects. The bidding is to take place for supply of 55 lakh GSM lines for north and eastern zones.

Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, has said that the ban on the Chinese suppliers is despite the fact that their telecom gear is cheaper than western vendors. He said, “It is a fact that telecom gear from Western vendors are expensive when compared to Chinese, but a government directive prevents us from placing any orders with telecom gear makers from China , especially if the equipment has to be installed in circles that share international boundaries,”

Now, only three Western vendors Erickson, Nokia Siemens and Alcatel Lucent will be allowed to participate in the bidding process.

It is learnt that the ban on Chinese vendors was mainly due to the security concerns. There are clear instruction to BSNL that security angle should be first kept in mind before approving any new procurement.