
BharatNet Phase 3: BSNL awards ₹1,901.11 crore work order to ITI, Tera Software for northeast
NEW DELHI: State-controlled telecom carrier
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(
BSNL
) has awarded a ₹1,901.11 crore advanced work order (AWO) to
ITI Limited
and its consortium partner
Tera Software
for the construction and maintenance of the middle-mile network under package 15 of the amended
BharatNet
programme.
'...the Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL, hereby place upon M/s ITI Limited (consortium partner – M/s Tera Software Limited) an Advance Work Order (AWO) for design, supply, construction, installation, upgradation, operation and maintenance of middle mile network of Bharatnet, in NER II (i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur) against package number 15 at an all-inclusive value of ₹1901,10,51,507.64,' BSNL said in the agreement document.
The deal value comprises ₹1,168.06 crore as capital expenditure (capex), ₹700.84 crore as operating expenditure (opex) for the newly constructed network, and ₹32.21 crore as opex for the existing network.
Based on the AWO, BSNL and ITI shall sign an agreement. Subsequently, route-wise work orders will be issued by the concerned circle within the AWO quantities allotted against the respective circles, according to the document.
The agreement is valid for 10 years.
ITI's shares closed 0.63% lower at ₹321.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Thursday.
In November last year, the telecom PSU with its consortium partner emerged as L1 or lowest bidder in BharatNet Phase-3 programme in the states of Himachal Pradesh for package no. 8, and in West Bengal, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for package no. 9 with total order value of ₹3,022 crores.
BharatNet Phase-3 Project is envisaged for the development (creation, upgradation and operations and maintenance) of a middle-mile network of BharatNet on a Design Build Operate and Maintain (DBOM) model for a total of 16 packages/circles.
ETTelecom reported on August 7, 2024, that the Telecommunications Consultants of India Limited (TCIL), ITI Limited, indigenous optical fiber cable (OFC) makers HFCL, STL, Polycab, and
Pratap Technocrats
, among others, emerged as the bidders for the third phase of the Centre's ambitious BharatNet program.
Indigenous OFC makers Polycab, STL and HFCL presented solo bids while as many as 18 bidders, including G R Infraprojects, Vindhya Telelinks, Pace Digitek Infra Private Limited, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Bharat Electronics Limited, Megha Engineering, and others, took the consortium route.
A total of 21 bidders put in their bids under the BharatNet 3 program for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, North East Region – I and North East Region – II, and others. In early 2024, the Centre rolled out the BharatNet III program with an outlay of ₹65,000-crore.
The tender is part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's ₹1.39 lakh crore BharatNet program which aims to provide last-mile broadband connectivity, and upgrade the existing 164,000 gram panchayats, as well as, connect 47,000 gram panchayats under the new model.
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