Indian state-owned telecommunications operator BSNL is set to invite bids for 8 million digital subscriber lines, writes the Economic Times. Sources said global majors Alcatel-Lucent,
Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, ZTE, Huawei and others have already expressed interest to bid for the BSNL contract, expected to be worth several hundred million dollars. India has about 3.24 million
broadband connections,making the BSNL tender is more than twice the existing broadband subscriber base of all operators combined. The company has informed prospective bidders that the
modem should not only offer high-speed internet access, but also carry content services such as
IPTV, internet telephony and
VoD. It should also offer enterprise services such as
VPN over broadband. Sources said that tender conditions would also stipulate that a significant percent of these modems are
Wi-Fi-enabled.
Source:Telecompaper
