Chinese equipment manufacturer ZTE has announced it won a Rs 3bn (US$64m) contract to supply WiMax systems to BSNL, the Indian state-owned landline phone provider, according to the Economic Times.
ZTE India chairman & managing director Dr DK Ghosh was…
Chinese equipment manufacturer ZTE has announced it won a Rs 3bn (US$64m) contract to supply WiMax systems to BSNL, the Indian state-owned landline phone provider, according to the Economic Times.
ZTE India chairman & managing director Dr DK Ghosh was quoted as saying that the company would provide the systems to speed up WiMax broadband rollout within the next six months.
Similarly, last week, Indian mobile operator Tata Teleservices awarded Chinese vendor Huawei a contract to roll out 3G in five circles.
Both moves come in the wake of the Indian government lifting a ban on Chinese equipment manufacturers supplying equipment to Tata and its rival Reliance. The ban reportedly arose due to Indian government concerns that broadband devices could contain spying technologies.
Ghosh explained that the gear provided to BSNL will be a mix of WiMax base-stations, switches and specialised WiMax terminals/handhelds, according to the Economic Times.
A few weeks, the newspaper reported that the Indian government was planning to award an Rs180bn (US$3.86bn) broadband contract to BSNL. The project was said to encompass the construction of a WiMAX broadband network across rural India, including 500,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable.
WiMax rollouts are expected to represent 35% of the national broadband services target by 2015, according to the Economic Times.
Unlike BSNL and Tata, Vodafone’s Indian subsidiary is expected to turn down Huawei and ZTE for its 3G network rollout, according to OneIndia News. The contract is expected to go to previous European suppliers, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson.
