India's BSNL looks set to award a 76.5 billion rupee ($1.65 billion) contract to build India's defense fiber network to a consortium led by Vindhya Telelinks.
Vindhya, a MP Birla Group company which manufactures telephone cables, and its partners Telecommunications Consultants India and Aster have submitted the lowest bid for the tender.
But the company has yet to be officially awarded the contract, sources told India's Economic Times.
Under the consortium agreement, Vindhya will pick up half the deal size, while the two partners will split the rest between them. The value of the order is 20 times Vindhya's annual sales for FY10.
The network, which will involve the deployment of around 57,000km of fiber across the country, will be used to serve the bulk of the communications requirements of the defence forces.
A commitment to build the network convinced the defense forces to relinquish 3G airwaves for use in the nation's recent 3G auctions.
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