The Delhi High Court in India has stayed the award of a large equipment contract by government-owned telecommunications service provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL). The order by the court Thursday follows a petition by Motorola Inc. that it was unfairly excluded from the tender after the technical evaluation of its bid.

The court has ordered that BSNL should not award the contract before the next hearing of the case on November 16. Neither Motorola nor BSNL were available for comment, citing the matter was sub judice.

On October 9, Motorola took BSNL to court after the company was disqualified on technical grounds in its bid for a large contract from BSNL for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and 3G equipment.

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Nokia Corp. emerged as the lowest bidders in the BSNL tender. Besides Motorola, Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp. was also disqualified on technical grounds.

BSNL invited earlier this year bids for the supply of equipment for 45 million lines. Another 18 million lines were reserved for ITI Ltd., a telecommunications equipment company that is majority owned by the Indian government, and has a tie-up with Alcatel S.A. of France.

Motorola has challenged its disqualification in the Delhi High Court and is seeking further clarification and transparency in the tender process, the company said last month.

Motorola said in a statement on October 9 that it had learnt from informal sources that it had not been invited for the price bid phase of the tender. At no point in time did BSNL communicate to Motorola that its bid was being dropped due to technical reasons, it added.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.