After the 2,300 kilometer-long submarine cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) was launched last year, the Lakshadweep Islands are set to get one as well - and much to the dismay of Indian telecom equipment manufacturers, it will be in partnership with the same foreign company that was behind CANI. According to a report by the Hindu BusinessLine, Japanese conglomerate NEC's Indian subsidiary NEC Technologies India has won the bid for the Rs 1,072-crore Kochi Lakshadweep Islands (KLI) project. NEC had previously laid down the CANI submarine cable in partnership with state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). The submarine cable network in the Lakshadweep Islands is expected to provide a capacity of 200 Gigabytes per second (Gbps) to all 11 islands of the archipelago, connecting it with Kochi. According to a 2019 report by the government's Universal Service Obligation Fund, the islands currently have 352 Megabytes per second (Mbps) satellite bandwidth. Earlier this year, multiple Indian telecom bodies wrote to the government saying that the tender for the project disqualified everyone but the NEC from winning the bid. Claims of unfair tender conditions According to a report, the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) and the PHD Chambers of Commerce wrote 20 letters in February, before the tender was even released, objecting to BSNL’s decision of framing the tender along the lines of the CANI project. These letters, sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Cabinet Secretary, Principle Scientific Advisor, NITI Aayog CEO, Telecom Secretary, USOF Administrator,…
