BSNL's broadband, WiMax moves

I read a story in LightReading about BSNL, the state-owned telecom service provider calling for a tender to supply GEPON (Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network) for its planned broadband network. GEPON is a popular network access technology delivering 1Gbit/sec over ethernet on a passive optical network and would be an essential part of the triple-play services rollout planned by BSNL. If we go by past business record with the ADSL rollout, UTStarcom Inc is considered to have a good chance of landing the deal.

Coming to WiMax, BSNL is all set to call for a wireless broadband tender very soon according tot the same story. For this tender there are many vendors who could fit the bill including Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola Inc, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Nortel Networks and the Indo-US vendor Telsima. Telsima has already supplied WiMax equipment to Reliance Comm and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited.

So you can see the pace gathering and we can watch out for more news on the infrastructure deals that would start the 3G rollout in India.