Asia Express - Data Communications
WiMAX Development in Asia November 23-29
November 29, 2009
- Indian state-owned carrier BSNL has revealed the bidders for its WiMAX franchise contract in the urban regions, Telecom Tiger reported on November 27. It is reported that ZTE will collaborate with E-Mall and Tech Solutions for entry into the bid project, while Cisco will partner Teracom and Alvarion will team up with Adishwar and Ampouls. At the same time, BSNL also published the new guidelines for the prospective franchisees. The new guidelines stipulate that the bidders are required to have a turnover of at least one billion Rupees (US$21.6 million; US$1=46.4 Rupees). Conspicuously absent from the list of bidders are Huawei Technologies which was the highest bidder for BSNL's rural WiMAX contract in early 2009 and SOMA Networks which is currently the partner for BSNL's WiMAX services in the three telecom circles of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.