Netas’ right to bid in BTCL fibre project upheld by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has upheld a High Court verdict that had directed Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) to allow Turkish vendor Netas to participate in bidding for the construction of fibre-optic transmission network infrastructure, reports local newspaper The Daily Star. The apex court passed the order after dismissing BTCL’s leave to appeal petition challenging the August 2012 High Court verdict, which in turn had supported a purchase review panel’s decision. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database observes that BTCL’s fibre network expansion programme has been slowed by the legal case, since in March 2012 the state-owned telco disqualified Netas from the tender for not submitting correct documentation, while considering bids from South Korea’s KT Corp and Japan’s NEC Corp, while ignoring the review panel’s approval of Netas’ bid. In May 2012 bidding was frozen when the dispute entered the courts.