Decks cleared for BSNL to place orders for GSM expansion
BSNL will now be able to place orders for its mobile telephony expansion plan as court dismisses Motorola's application as withdrawn.
BSNL will now be able to place orders for its over Rs 20,000 crore mobile telephony expansion plan as Motorola, which had challenged its disqualification in the tendering process in the Delhi High Court, has withdrawn the case.
On October 9, Motorola filed a petition in Delhi High Court challenging its disqualification in the 45.5 million lines tender. Due to the court case, BSNL was unable to place any order during the pendency of the petition.
Motorola in a statement said "in view of the tremendous growth taking place in the telecom sector in the country and BSNL's petition of capacity constraints to have its share in this expansion, Motorola has decided to withdraw the case filed in the Delhi High Court".
The US-based company, however, clarified that withdrawal of petition didn't reflect any change in their original position saying "withdrawal of case by Motorola in no way reflects any change in the company's original position that its bid was in compliance with the tender condition".
The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed Motorola's application as withdrawn. The award, to add 45 million lines in its GSM network, which had gone to Ericsson and Nokia will now be implemented with the withdrawal of this petition.
Ericsson, which was the lowest bidder, would get 60 per cent of the 45.5 million lines, while the second lowest bidder, Nokia, would get the remaining share of the north east and west zone.
Motorola had earlier challenged the award of the contract to Ericsson saying it was the lowest bidder and BSNL had wrongfully disqualified it on the technical evaluation ground.