Motorola gets GSM network contract from BSNL

By Our Staff Correspondent

MUMBAI, OCT. 4. Motorola Inc. and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) have signed a contract to deploy India's single largest order for a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications infrastructure in each of the four States in South India. The contract, valued at $178 million, will support a total of 1.4 million subscribers in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

BSNL, a Government-owned entity, is the largest basic wireline service provider in the country with over 34 million subscribers. It was awarded a licence recently to operate as the third cellular service provider and has plans to provide GSM cellular services in South India.

``We are delighted that BSNL has chosen Motorola to install this expansive network which will be India's single largest GSM implementation ever," said Mr. Pramod Saxena, country manager, Motorola India. ``The southern zone is among the most important zones for any cellular service provider as it has 30 per cent of the country's cellular subscriber base and the highest average revenue per unit. The Motorola network is designed to be scalable and robust to address the growing number of subscribers in the south zone," said Mr. Saxena.

Motorola will provide seamless cellular access across 280 cities and highways in the four States. The agreement for a total turnkey of 900 MHz GSM network includes base stations, switches, intelligent network, billing platform, and turnkey services and project management and also includes terminal devices and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards. Motorola will work with local contractors in each State for installation and optimisation of the network.

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Section  : Business
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