(a) whether the tender for expansion plan of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Litnited(BSNL) has been delayed;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)jhas its reservations on this tender;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to speed up BSNL`s expansion plan to enable the company to meet the challenges of private telecom operators in the country?
THE MINISTER OF STATE rN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI GURUDAS KAMAT)
(a) to (d): Madam, the tenders for procurement of GSM equipment under phase VI was floated
by the four zones of BSNL on 01-05-2008. The tender was floated for 25 million lines each by
North, West and South zones and for 18 million lines by the East zone to meet requirements
spread over three to four years.
At the advance state of tender finalizatton, the Central Vigilance Commission decided
to investigate the Phase VI tender and called for the records. Accordingly, the Board decided
not to proceed further with the GSM tender till further advice from CVC. The CVC recommended
not to operate on the tender of 93 million GSM lines because of non-competition, high rate and
prolonged negotiations. The recommendations of CVC were placed before the Sam Pitroda Committee.
The Pttroda Committee also recommended to scrap the tender of 93 million GSM lines. The report
of Pitroda Committee in the matter was deliberated by the BSNL board on 05-03-2010 and the board
decided to accept the recommendation of Pitroda Committee for dropping of the tender.
(e): As per the recommendation of Pitroda Committee, BSNL has formed a committee to prepare
Request For Proposals (RFP) for adopting managed capacity model for expansion of its GSM network.