MTNL order routed via China
Even though the government has not given approval to Chinese companies to manufacture equipment in India, they are set to bag - albeit indirectly - big orders from the government-owned MTNL.
By Manoj Gairola, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Even though the government has not given approval to Chinese companies to manufacture equipment in India, they are set to bag — albeit indirectly — big orders from the government-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
The tender conditions of MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) for procuring GSM equipment and establishing network make it mandatory for the bidders to manufacture in India.
This prevented companies like Huawei from participating in the tenders. However, US-based Motorola, which has got a big order from MTNL for establishing its GSM network, has outsourced a significant part of the order to Huawei.
Sources said Motorola will also outsource from Huawei in case it wins the BSNL tender, which is likely to be finalised shortly. “Yes, part of the equipment is sourced from Huawei. Motorola is taking full responsibility of the solution,” said Phirdose Vandervala, chairman, Motorola (India).
The value of the order is said to be about Rs 550 crore. As per tender conditions, Motorola will supply one million lines each in the first and second year. While Motorola will primarily supply radio part, Huawei will supply switching and IN part.
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“Motorola will do radio part of the network which is more than 60% of the total order,” said Kuldip Singh, director (technical), MTNL. As per tender conditions, Motorola will have to do manufacturing of at least 30% of the total ordered quantity. “Motorola has committed to MTNL that it will add 30% value in India as per tender conditions,” said Mr Singh.The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) did not provide approval to two Chinese companies — Huawei and ZTE — to manufacture in India on security grounds. Intelligence agencies have opposed their proposals saying that they pose security threat.
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