Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will soon invite bids from private players for managing its IT network. The public sector undertaking is finalising the tender estimated to be worth $700 million spread over 10 years. The selected partner will take over BSNL’s entire IT requirements across all services, including fixed line and mobile billing.

According to senior BSNL officials the tender, the first major from BSNL in the last five years, would be floated by December. Global IT players such as IBM and Amdocs may participate in the bidding through system integrators, according to a news report published in Hindu Business Line.

However, the last few tenders have been ridden with controversies with allegations of political interference and corruption jeopardising the contracts.
There are already murmurs that the new tender is also being drafted to favour some company. But BSNL officials are confident that this time the project will go through.

BSNL would also have to deal with the issue of security concerns. In 2010, the company’s attempt to expand its telecom network through an outsourcing model was shot down by the department of telecom on security grounds.