TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) informed the exchanges on Monday that it has received an advance purchase order (APO) valued at over Rs 15,000 crore from public sector telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
The TCS-led consortium that will deploy this order includes the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and Tejas Networks.
“The consortium led by Tata Consultancy Services Limited has received an Advance Purchase Order valued over Rs15,000 crore from BSNL, a 100% Govt. of India owned Public Sector Undertaking, for the deployment of a 4G network across India,” TCS wrote in a note to exchanges.
At about $1.8 billion worth of APO, this deal also marks one of the largest deals closed by the IT services major in recent quarters. The largest deal it had closed in the January-March quarter was worth around $750 million.
ET had reported, in November 2022, that this deal will potentially pitch the Tata Group consortium as an indigenous telecom network solutions provider against global players like Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei among others.
BSNL has been talking about launching 4G services since 2019 but in 2020, it was forced to cancel a tender due to restrictive conditions for domestic firms.
After that, the telecom operator was asked by the government to utilise equipment from domestic companies only. BSNL has already worked with TCS, Tejas Networks, and C-DoT (Centre for Development of Telematics) to test homegrown 4G technology as part of a Rs 200 crore POC.
Source: Exchange filing
