The Chinese vendor has emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying both core and access equipment for BSNL’s wireline infrastructure, executives aware of the development told India’s Economic Times.
Huawei will cater to at least 60% of BSNL’s contract to purchase four million lines, with the remainder likely to be made up by ZTE and Prithyi Information Solutions, the next lowest bidders.
The contract is part of BSNL’s Next Generation Network project to upgrade its wireline infrastructure to provide the latest broadband solutions and value-added services.
It involves the replacement of nearly 40,000 fixed-line exchanges and is expected to boost BSNL’s consumer fixed access business to generate nearly 50% of its annual revenue by the end of the 2013 financial year.
"To date, our landline resources have primarily carried voice signals. But the replacement of the old telephone exchanges with next-generation equipment will enable our landlines to carry a mix of voice, data and video signals," a top BSNL executive told The Economic Times.
BSNL plans to upgrade its pan-Indian network in two phases starting between 2013 and 2014. The first phase will see the telco upgrade its wireline network across 500 cities.
