Relieved after Motorola withdrew its petition, state run BSNL on Monday said it will soon place mobile network equipment purchase order with Ericsson and Nokia and hopes that phase I of the project will be over by 2007 end.
"We are working on the details and in a few days we should be able to place the APO to Ericsson and Nokia for the first phase of the 45.5 million mobile line expansion plan and by December this year installation of equipment hopefully will be in place", BSNL CMD A K Sinha told PTI.
He said let the three phases of the expansion plans be over in which 45.5 million lines would be added to BSNL's CellOne service and after that if needed the provision to order another 50 per cent and even 100 per cent more lines are also there without again inviting tenders.
With this Ericsson and Nokia who have already been awarded the Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) contract spread over three phases from BSNL before Motorola challenge it, can go ahead with supply and installation of the project.
About 25 per cent of that order is meant for 3G services, which will allow subscribers to access high speed Internet and other voice and video services on their handsets.
BSNL, six months ago, had awarded a Rs 20,000 crore mobile telephony expansion contract to Swedish company Ericsson and Finnish company Nokia, which was challenged by Motorola after it was disqualified on the technical parameters.
On October 9, Motorola filed a petition in Delhi High Court challenging its disqualification in the 45 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The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed Motorola's application as withdrawn.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 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.
Motorola said, "BSNL is a valued customer and the company looks forward to its continued partnership with BSNL and other customers to connect the unconnected".
The US firm was disqualified on technical grounds on October 7, just two days before the opening of financial bids. The equipment supplier later challenged the decision in the Delhi High Court.
BSNL desperately needs to place the mobile telephony expansion order immediately as the capacity of its networks are on the verge of being exhausted and would hamper its GSM leadership plans.
With delay of several months, the PSU is feeling the heat of constrained capacity and will, most likely, award the contract to Ericsson and Nokia soon. The failure to get the contract has, however, not deterred Motorola's India plans. "Motorola will continue to play a meaningful role in the telecom domain in India with both current and emerging technologies," it said.