05.04.2014: Telecom secretary MF Farooqui pulls up BSNL for delay in armed forces network rollout

KOLKATA: Telecom secretary MF Farooqui has hauled up Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for the delayed rollout of a mega armed forces communications network, which is holding back the defence ministry from freeing up more spectrum, thus delaying the auction of much sought after 3G airwaves. Farooqui has criticised BSNL for not finalising nearly Rs 5,000 crore of optic fibre network gear procurement deals for the army and the naval forces even four months after price bids were opened last November, according the minutes of a recent meeting seen by ET. His move comes at a time when GSM operators have been exhorting the telecom department to hasten the process of selling more 3G airwaves to enable expansion of the high speed mobile internet services, especially after the defence ministry recently agreed to consider a swap of 15 MHz of bandwidth in the 2.1 GHz band — the 3G band — with 15 MHz of spectrum in the 1900 MHz band. Small wonder, Farooqui has asked BSNL to wrap up "vendor selection and purchase order placements this month", the note shows. The optic fibre network contracts are at the heart of theRs 13,334-crore alternate telecom network that BSNL has been mandated to build for the defence ministry. The devices will be used in building a 60,000-km secure optic fibre ring that will be used by the armed forces. Farooqui wants BSNL to complete the project swiftly as the armed forces plan to migrate their strategic communication needs to this alternate network and vacate more airwaves for commercial telephony. The defence ministry had released some 3G airwaves four year ago after it was assured that DoT would keep its side of the deal in rolling out an alternate communications network through BSNL. This had enabled DoT to auction 3G airwaves in 2010. The armed forces telecom venture has also been hanging fire as several domestic electronics, hardware and telecom product suppliers have complained to the telecom department about problems in participating in bidding process as eligibility norms were skewed in favour of foreign vendors. BSNL CMD RK Upadhyay assured Farooqui that the optic fibre gear procurements "for navy and army access would be finalised shortly".