Ericsson and Nokia Siemens will share $4.5b deal, says BSNL

India's state-run telecommunications operator BSNL is set to award Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks an estimated $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion combined contract in the next couple of days, a senior official, quoted by a Dow Jones report, said.

The Dow Jones report said the deal, which was blocked by rival Motorola in a court case until last month, will see Ericsson take 60% of the contract, while the newly formed Nokia Siemens Network joint venture will take on the job of installing the remaining 40% of the 45.5 million GSM mobile communications lines.

'We have worked out all the details and are ready to place an advance purchase order in the next one or two days,' BSNL finance chief S. D. Saxena was quoted by the Dow Jones as saying.

The Dow Jones report further quoted the official as saying that the price being paid for executing the project is about $100 to $103 per line.

In November an Indian court stopped BSNL from awarding the contract, after Motorola said it had been unfairly disqualified from the bid process, the report said.