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CVC probing BSNL's WiMAX tender: Kamat

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Central Vigilance Commission is enquiring into irregularities in allotting state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) franchises, parliament was told Friday.

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The Department of Telecom has also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of member (finance), telecom commission for detailed examination of the course of action taken by BSNL while floating a tender for short listing bidders for WiMAX franchises, Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurdas Kamat told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

WiMax offers high speed internet access with fast data downloads.

BSNL has entered into an agreement with franchisees for roll-out of WiMAX services in urban areas of Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra service areas under a revenue share basis.

As per the agreement, the franchisee was to deploy WiMAX network and BSNL would provide its infrastructure like premises, towers and media connectivity. However, according to reports, the operator had selected some five franchise companies to deploy WiMAX services across the country out of which one was alleged to have got the contract without following the complete procedure.

BSNL has been recording huge losses in the past two years.  It posted a loss of Rs 1,822.65 crore during 2009-10.

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