Nortel bags Rs 400 cr contract from BSNL

Nortel has bagged a contract from BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam), valued at over $100 million (approx Rs 400 crore), to put mobile connectivity in the hands of millions of new subscribers in the southern area of the country. Nortel's deployment of the BSNL network expansion is already underway and is expected to be completed towards the end of 2008.

BSNL, India's largest telecoms service provider with over 20 million cellular subscribers, is actively growing its network reach and capacity to meet increased demand for mobile telephony services across the country.

The company chose Nortel to support this southern GSM network expansion with a very aggressive roll-out schedule, based on Nortel’s previous track record in helping BSNL establish the widest reach of any wireless network provider in India. With this selection, BSNL can build on, and maximize its existing network investment and rapidly extend mobile services to new subscribers.

"Since 2004, Nortel has worked closely with BSNL in rolling out mobile service to some seven million customers in the southern and eastern parts of India while ensuring the network is cost-effective and implemented according to BSNL's aggressive timelines," said Hitesh Lokhandwala, managing director, Nortel India.

"This new contract award reflects BSNL's confidence in Nortel to achieve these targets, and is further proof that in one of the most competitive, dynamic and fastest-growing markets in the world, Nortel's solutions meet our customers' requirements."