India’s premier telecom public sector company ITI Ltd has bagged an advance purchase order (APO) of ₹3,889 crore from BSNL for the latter’s 4G roll-out.
The scope of work includes planning, engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of 4G mobile network for 23,633 sites in the West Zone of BSNL. The deal will include a nine-year annual maintenance contract (AMC).
ITI officials said the supply period would be 18-24 months with a warranty of 12 months. TCS will be the consortium partner. As part of the contract, ITI will manufacture the radio access network (RAN).
ITI chairman and managing director Rajesh Rai said it was a significant milestone for ITI as it would partner with BSNL in connecting remote parts of the country.
“In the past, ITI successfully deployed 2G and 3G GSM networks (nodes and RAN) for BSNL in West and South Zones. ITI also supplied optical broadband connectivity equipment BharatNet phase I and II projects for BSNL. The equipment for more than 25% of BharatNet network has been supplied by ITI,” Mr. Rai said.
ITI has manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru, Naini, Raebareli, Mankapur, Srinagar and Palakkad, and an in-house research and development centre at Bengaluru.
