BSNL inks expansion deal with ZTE and Alca-Lu

State-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has selected Chinese vendor ZTE and French-US supplier Alcatel-Lucent to supply it with equipment to upgrade its wireless network, Dow Jones reports. Following a tender in July 2011, ZTE entered the lowest price to supply BSNL with equipment to add 14.37 million lines to its mobile network. Delays in receiving government clearance for the purchase have hampered the development, however, and the capacity increase has subsequently been scaled back to 10.15 million lines. Whilst ZTE will deliver the network equipment, Alc-Lu meanwhile will provide equipment to manage new pre-paid customers.