``Instead of the earlier plan to invite tenders for the Rs 800-crore 15 lakh GSM lines project, the BSNL now plans to invite bids for this mega-project of 40 lakh lines, which will be worth more than Rs 1,800 crore,'' say Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sources.

These 40 lakh lines will be divided into four zones - East, West, North, South - across the country and separate tenders will be invited for each zone, the sources add.

The BSNL plans to implement the GSM project in a phased manner. Says Dr DPS Seth, chairman and managing director, BSNL: ``First, 15 lakh lines will be installed in phase-I, to be executed by October 2001, and then 25 lakh lines will be installed as part of the second phase.''

On Friday, the BSNL had issued a notice inviting tender (NIT) for the South zone. ``This includes 5.3 lakh lines for phase-I and 8.4 lakh lines for phase-II. The BSNL is shortly expected to come out with tenders for the remaining four zones,'' says a source. This tender is expected to be to the tune of Rs 685 crore. The tenders for the remaining three zones are expected to be issued shortly.

BSNL's 15 lakh-line tender was supposed to come out in October 2000, but it was postponed to January 2001. The tender for GSM lines is for providing cellular telephony to cities and villages adjoining those cities, across the country.

Now, when the two projects have been clubbed, it will help the BSNL get a more competitive price. Says an industry expert: ``If it had chosen to do this as two separate projects, then the project price would have been around Rs 2,200 crore. But having clubbed the two, they will get a much better price. Also, it will speed up implementation, as the project will go through the bureaucratic process only once, instead of twice.''

All international equipment majors - including Motorola, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Alcatel, and Nortel - are expected to participate in this tender.