The Committee appointed to review the issues related to BSNL’s mega-GSM tender for 93 million GSM lines has recommended that the PSU scrap the tender altogether, reports the Business Line.

The Committee headed by Sam Pitroda who is serving as advisor to PM, has asked BSNL to adopt the managed services model as is the trend.

The scrapping of tender appears to be inevitable as not only the committee but even the CVC (chief vigilance commission) had asked BSNL to scrap the tender. In fact the Committee was formed after CVC objected to the way the entire tender process was being dealt with.

BSNL’s management however was against the scrapping of the tender as it would have further delayed the procurement needs of the company. Even the company’s Unions supported the management on this issue.

The tender under mention was floated in 2008. Ericsson and Huawei emerged as the shortlisted companies. Ericsson was shortlisted for North and East zones. Huawei was shortlisted for the South Zone.

The first controversy regarding the tender erupted when Huawei’s selection was questioned over the company’s alleged relations with the Chinese defence establishment. The next controversy was regarding alleged high prices of Ericsson. Ultimately BSNL had to put on hold the entire tender and this resulted in delay in much-required network capacity expansion plans of the company.

Business Line further reports that BSNL may award a 15 million GSM line contract to existing vendor Ericsson to take care of its immediate network capacity needs.