This time, the company decided to place orders for PSTN switches with only four of the six companies who had submitted tenders. Previously, orders were placed with all the six bidders, who were given the option of supplying at L1 (the price quoted in the lowest bid).

"This lead to grouping among the companies, who could fix the L1 among themselves, before submitting the tenders. And this was a disadvantage to MTNL," says Rajagopalan. However, now that MTNL has decided to select only four of the bidders, it has lead to a real competition among the companies, he added. The companies who have submitted their tenders for the 4,80,000 lines include, Lucent Technologies, Ericsson, Seimens, Alcatel, HTL, and ITI. "This time, we are saving Rs 1,300 per line as compared to the prices quoted last year - a total of Rs 62 crore," said Rajagopalan.