NT issues LoI to Huawei for installation of 5.2m GSM lines
KATHMANDU, Dec 6:
State-owned operator, Nepal Telecom (NT) on Wednesday has issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) to Chinese telecom vendor Huawei for the installation of 5.2 million GSM lines.
The board meeting of the operator last week had decided to hand over ´Package A´ of its 10 million GSM lines after other two bidders ZTE and Ericssion declined the operator´s offer.
A senior official of NT said, "We have issued LoI to Huawei and any other vendor can complain if they have any objection throughout a period of one week." If there is no objection, we will call Huawei for the final agreement for the installation of GSM lines.
Operators are confident that Huawei was going to sign the agreement as it has already withdrawn its case filed against NT in the district court seeking protection of its bid bond from being confiscated. "Huawei is interested as well to take up the project," the official added.
Huawei has already signed the final agreement with NT to execute ´Package B´ of the project. As the lowest bidder, the Chinese firm had bagged the contract for Rs 6.75 billion.
The bid for the ´Package A´ consisting of 5.2 million GSM lines was originally won by another Chinese vendor ZTE. But it later pulled out after NT turned down its request to raise the cost for implementing the project. After seizing ZTE´s bid bond worth Rs 420 million, NT had offered the project to Ericsson. But the Swedish vendor, which had quoted the highest price among the three bidders, also cold shouldered the NT´s request.
The operator plans to install 5.2 million GSM lines of ´Package A´ in the rural and hilly areas of central, eastern, far-western and mid-western development regions
Similarly, under ´Package B´, NT targets to cover Bagmati, Gandaki, Dhaulagiri and Lumbini zones, mostly urban areas. Huawei currently is delivering equipment for the installation of 4.8 million GSM lines. The operator which is not in the position to address the market demand for GSM lines completely is hopeful about distributing new lines by the end of current fiscal year.
Source: Republica
