Editorial – DEC 2024

We bring to you the most comprehensive account on the status of BharatNet-Phase-3 project. BSNL evaluated 187 voluminous bids in five months. The project to be rolled out across India in two and a half years involves orders worth over Rs 34,378 crores in capital expenditure.

A separate outlay is towards O&M and is in the range of Rs 19,800 crore. The final price is expected to be in the range of Rs 52,800 crore. Currently BSNL is in the process of price negotiations with selected bidders. We bring to you a two-part story on this project.

The first part is a deep data dive about participation by 44 bidders, their rankings, issues posed by legal challenges to contracts which the bidding outcomes would have to contend with, rollout obligations and nitty-gritties of existing network handover. The second part of the story is a detailed investigation into the Pratap group of companies and its multiple bids through the usage of corporate veil. The arrangement of the registered offices in Jaipur, the shareholding, and the manner of its changes – all point out to the linkages and multiple bids by the same group entities.

This issue has also put together an intensive report on SMS Traceability and Fraud Detection. Our investigations show that Trai’s acceptance and approval of Access Providers claim is not borne out by facts. Truth be told, no effective measures are in place. UCC directives exist on paper even as rogue telemarketers continue to flourish. In the face of such realities, Trai’s claim that access providers have done all that is required is shambolic.

Traceability, chain matching, stopping misuse of header, matching of fixed part of content template while limiting variable part, system generated report for delivery & cross verifications were objectives that were meant to be served. None of them are. Our research shows that Header IDs of Principal Entities continue to be available freely in the market for a price whether they belong to the government or private organizations. The solution lies in correct specs, tough implementation and going beyond traceability to cutting edge models inorder to prevent frauds.