Telecom Lead India: Telecom equipment vendors – ZTE,
Huawei and Alcatel Lucent – are likely to win a major order from mobile
operator BSNL for adding 14.37 million lines.
This will be a huge setback for both Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network. Both
telecom equipment vendors are struggling in the Indian mobile market.
Ericsson India posts 55 percent decrease in Q1 2012 revenue to
SEK 1.4 billion
Recently, Ericsson India said it posted 55 percent
decrease in revenue to SEK 1.4 billion in Q1 2012.
Among the regions, India showed the worst performance for
Ericsson.
In the recent months, Ericsson did not win any significant 4G orders from
mobile major Airtel. The only 4G order was from Augere which is yet to commence
services.
Other equipment vendors such as ZTE, Huawei and
Alcatel-Lucent are also doing well in India in the wake of the recent Supreme
Court verdict. Nokia Siemens is in the process of slashing its manpower in
several global markets including India.
The expansion will be a huge relief for BSNL that posted gross revenue of Rs 4,166.73 crore
for the quarter ended 31, December 2011, down 11.19 percent against Rs 4,691.86
crore for the quarter ended 30, September 2011. For the quarter ended 31
December 2010, the Indian Government owned BSNL’s gross revenue stood at
Rs 4,294.59 crore.
“We have finalized these vendors and even given them
advance purchase order for the equipments in North, South and East zone. By month
end, all circle heads will submit requirement of their divisions. After this,
we will place final orders,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director R K
Upadhyay told PTI.
The network expansion is very important for BSNL which is
struggling to add subscribers in India’s highly competitive telecom market.
BSNL offers 1% discount to people to clear dues
Recently, BSNL offered a discount of 1 percent
to its customers to clear dues. The service provider wants to restore over
50,000 landline connections that were earlier closed for nonpayment of bills.
These dues have piled up to Rs 7 crore in Pune district. The deadline for
clearance has been fixed as March 31. However, BSNLalso said if the people
whose connections have been suspended fail to pay the bills by March 31, the
company will issue them notices and even file court cases.
“Mobile telephony started in 1996. BSNL got permit
after five years in 2001 to start it. Within a year, BSNL acquired top
position. Shortage of equipments pulled us down but now we will strive to
regain our leadership,” Upadhyay aded.
The order is sufficient to significantly enhance quality of service offered by
the company. BSNL’s network expansion includes planning, financing,
engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and annual
maintenance.
The bids for 14.37 million lines were invited in July 2011 under phase seven of
expansion. The last tender was finalized by the company for expansion in 2006
for 45 million lines, which was later reduced to 14 million lines in 2007.
After this, the company floated two more tenders for 93 million lines in 2008
and 5.5 million lines in 2010, but both the tenders were later cancelled.
At the end of March, 2012, BSNL had 10.72 per cent market share in the mobile
telephony segment with over 98.51 million customers.
