India's new GSM mega tender

Telcoflash reported several times of the big BSNL GSM tender worth some $4bn for 45m mobile lines + 15 m lines attributed under special quota rules, but if you think I am again talking about it, you are wrong. This week, Reliance (another major mobile operator in India) has invited bids for provisioning up to 100m mobile lines in a package worth about $7bn to $7.5bn. Bids would include 70-75m GSM lines and 20-25m WCDMA lines. Reliance is up to day a major CDMA operator in India, so the tender is a blow to the CDMA camp, led by Qualcomm. Three to four suppliers will be awarded the contract, but we can expect more than 20 bidding files. Winners could be announced in about one or two months, and deliveries are expected to start six months after. Reliance should expect a price per line well below $107 (the lowest bidding price for the 45m lines of the BSNL contract, but surely not the final price). Reliance is quite in a hurry to improve its infrastructure, adding 1m new subscriber per month and could be out of capacity by mid-2007.