Motorola goes to court after disqualification from BSNL contract

11 Oct 2006
00:00

(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Motorola has gone to court to challenge a decision by India's state-run telephone service company that disqualified the US firm from bidding on a large contract.

India's BSNL is the only company offering landline and mobile phone services across all states and federal territories.

The contract on offer involves laying 62 million GSM lines and supplying 3G equipment.

BSNL's technical evaluation committee disqualified Motorola and Chinese telecom giant ZTE from the bidding process last week.

Bidding opened Monday and newspapers reported that Sweden-based Ericsson emerged as a favorite, offering to execute the contract at a cost averaging $107 per line.

The reports didn't name any sources. A BSNL official when contacted declined to comment.

In a statement, Motorola said it was 'surprised and extremely concerned by the BSNL decision.'

The company said it had been in discussions with BSNL, and at no point was Motorola told its bid was being dropped because of technical reasons.

'On Saturday, Motorola learned from informal market sources that it had not been invited for opening of the price bid,' the statement said.

The company has 'challenged its disqualification' in the Delhi High Court, and 'is seeking further clarification and transparency in this tender process,' it said.

Other bidders included Nokia and Siemens. At Ericsson's bidding price, the contract's value would total $6.6 billion.

© 2006 The Associated Press

© 2006 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved

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