BSNL Unions writes to Prime Minister blaming Western Vendors for derailing mobile rollout

[kesav 127]

BSNL Unions blame Western vendors for derailing mobile rollout

The BSNL Unions have shot off a letter to the Prime Minister blaming European and American equipment vendors for derailing BSNL’s mobile rollout plans.

“Complicity of these vendors and formidable possibility of their acting at the behest of BSNL's competitors, which are sourced by these vendors, also cannot be ruled out.

The Sanchar Nigam Executives' Association said the equipment vendors including Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), through their frivolous complaints to various courts and investigating agencies have delayed procurement of mobile network equipment by BSNL since 2001.

“It does not need a meticulous analysis to conclude that vendors like Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, etc, have been acting in tandem with the competitors of BSNL, from time to time, depending on their hidden and sinister business interest, to completely wipe out BSNL from telecom business.

“The moot point, however, is that they are largely successful and greatly encouraged to stall equipment procurement because of unabated political patronage and uncalled for bureaucratic interference,” said Mr G.L. Jogi, General Secretary, SNEA, in his letter to the Prime Minsiter.

source :: http://telecomtiger.com/PolicyNRegulation_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=breakingnews&storyid=10200&section=S174

This is absolute truth.

Anybody who has observed Indian Telecom sector for last 2-3 years very closely can easily vouch for this statement by BSNL unions.

I seriously feel that there is formation of clique among Western vendors (read as NSN, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson)and GSM biggies(read as Airtel,Vodafone & Idea) to thwart competition.

Since both GSM biggies(vs dual-tech operators&newbies) and Western vendors(vs Chinese vendors) are losing their own battle field, it's quite natural and conducive for formation of this clique.

This clique always plays the foul game in court rooms(getting adjournments after adjournments) and through paid media campaigns.

Everything which is competitive(BSNL/MTNL tenders, TRAI orders/recommendations, DoT's orders/regulations, DoT's security guidelines and so on...) is litigated by this group. Their sole purpose is not to win these litigations but to delay the date of implementations.

This clique is very successful(through money power) in planting stories in media to their advantage and generating wave against competitors,regulators and Govt.

Hope PM will see this issue with utmost importance it deserves.

This cartel has already grown to the level of banyan.

Let us hope PM will try to sow the seeds of future telecom growth away from shades of this banyan so that those seeds can germinate and flourish further.

Last but not the least, although I'm totally aginst the way BSNL functions today(bureaucratic, lethargic) but this letter to PM is timely and straight on to the truth.

[kesav 127]

Another exhaustive article on the same topic.

BSNL unions allege cartel play by gear cos

NEW DELHI: The employee unions of BSNL have approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) alleging that a “carefully calibrated cartelisation of leading telecom gear manufacturers was wreaking havoc with BSNL’s growth”.

The unions’ complaint comes after BSNL’s latest tender for 5.5 million GSM lines worth around Rs 2,000 crore has run into a controversy, risking holding up the company’s expansion programme yet again. It has led to BSNL orders for telecom equipment drying up over the past four years, allowing private companies to have an upper hand, and a loss of Rs 1,822.65 crore for the year up to March-end, a first in the company’s history.

The controversy relates to Nokia Siemens Networks which wants BSNL not to enforce a clause in its latest tender that mandates vendors to share their source codes with the Indian government. This move has been strongly opposed by Ericsson which dropped out from placing a bid as it did not want to adhere to the source code clause. Ericsson had also knocked at the CVC door seeking a probe into BSNL’s move to cancel the earlier tender for 5.5 million lines, which banned the participation of Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE and called for fresh bids. This is because the government had lifted its earlier directive that prevented the telco from placing any orders with telecom gear makers from China, especially if the network had to be installed in circles that share international boundaries.

Meanwhile, Ericsson has shot off a second letter to CVC and the BSNL management on Tuesday demanding that the telco not open the financial bids for its 5.5-million line tender. Ericsson maintains that any concessions by BSNL on not enforcing the escrow clause violate existing government guidelines which do not allow the telecom major to change rules midway through the tendering process.

But the battle among vendors has not amused BSNL’s employee unions. “Now when renewed bidding by inclusion of Chinese vendors has reached finality, Ericsson, consciously keeping away from the bidding due to its refusal to comply with the security guidelines, has approached CVC to stall the process by questioning the sinister move of Nokia to refuse to comply with security template at this stage. BSNL has become a fertile hunting ground for these vendors, in tacit collusion with the competitors of BSNL,” the unions said in their communication to the PMO, the telecom ministry as well as central investigating agencies.

The unions have also alleged that “complicity of these vendors and formidable possibility of their acting at the behest of BSNL’s competitors could not be ruled out”.

“It does not need a meticulous analysis to conclude that vendors like Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia etc. have been acting in tandem with the competitors of BSNL from time to time, depending on their hidden and sinister business interests, to completely wipe out BSNL from telecom business,” the unions said in their statement.

Responding to comments of BSNL’s employee unions, executives in Ericsson who refused to be named said, “The allegation that western vendors are maligning BSNL is baseless and the company was only trying to make sure that fair business practices prevail and national security is not compromised .” BSNL unions have pointed out that earlier this year, BSNL had junked its tender for 93 million GSM lines worth $10 billion, which was the world’s largest telecom equipment contract.

The CVC had launched a probe in December 9 after Nokia Siemens had approached the central agency complaining of irregularities in the tendering process.

The unions added that vendors have been playing havoc with the PSU since 2006, forcing the state-owned telco to lose market share. They pointed out, for instance, the 2006 tender for “procurement of 45.5 million GSM lines of vital importance, finalised in an exemplary transparent and comprehensive way, involving experts from IITs and IIMs, and spanning over two years, was stalled in Delhi High Court for more than nine months by Motorola, after its legitimate disqualification on technical and frivolous ground”. Motorola later withdrew its appeal in the high court unconditionally.

But after Motorola withdrew its appeal, telecom minister A Raja after taking over got the tender size reduced by 50% to 23 million lines. This tender was further brought down to 14 million lines after Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), which was slated to supply 40% of the contract failed to do so. BSNL’s expansion plans have been hit since then. “Nokia betrayed BSNL to source it just at a crucial time when it was in dire need of GSM equipment on flimsy, frivolous and untenable grounds,” BSNL employee unions added in their communication.

source :: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/BSNL-unions-allege-cartel-play-by-gear-cos/articleshow/6868589.cms

Edited November 7, 2010 by kesav