BSNL is likely to award a €425.7 million (US$673 million) GSM expansion deal to a consortium of Alcatel-Lucent and ITI Ltd, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The contract is for the supply of 9 million GSM lines in western India. Earlier in the week, BSNL placed an order worth more than €63.25 million (US$100 million) with Nortel Networks for GSM equipment in southern India.
The proposed Alcatel-Lucent deal would be the culmination of a tender process that has already been rejected by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the country is likely to top the US next month to become the world's second biggest mobile market after China.