BBNL to invite bids from GPON suppliers for broadband penetration project

KOLKATA: Bharat Broadband Network is set to invite bids by early August for a Rs 2,500-crore to Rs 3,000-crore order to supply devices which carry voice, data and video signals over a fiber-optic broadband network at very high speeds, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

State-run Bharat Broadband Network ( BBNL) is a special purpose vehicle for implementing the ministry of communications' ambitious Rs 21,000-crore national broadband venture. The devices, known as Gigabit Passive Optical Network, or GPON, systems, will be used for taking high-speed Internet to the hinterlands to expand the penetration of high-speed Internet.

"We will invite bids in early-August and expect to award contracts to about five GPON system suppliers for the national broadband venture in a month," a top BBNL executive told ET.

Domestic GPON vendors, including Tejas Networks, ITI, VMC Systems, Bharat Electronics, Sai Infosystems, United Telecoms, Himachal Futuristic Communications and the Indian units of a clutch of foreign vendors such as Huawei, ZTE and Ericsson have participated in the pre-bid conference recently called by BBN, the two people said.

One of them added that BBNL will "strictly" stick to India's preferential market access (PMA) policy for buying security-sensitive electronics equipment. Since GPON systems have been classified as "electronics with security implications", BBNL will meet 75% of its requirement from Indian suppliers with a 25% window for foreign vendors in the first year, as per the PMA policy. From the second year, it will have to source all the devices from local vendors.