New Delhi, May 21 (PTI): BSNL will invite bids to acquire 5.5 million lines — to expand GSM operations — from three foreign vendors that had participated in the aborted 93-million-line tender, leaving out Chinese bidders such as Huawei and ZTE.

A special board meeting of the PSU decided on the vendors today, senior officials said. The three vendors are Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens Network and Alcatel-Lucent.

BSNL refused to comment on its decision to exclude Chinese firms, but sources said getting security clearances was the primary reason.

Huawei was a winner in one of the regions in the earlier tender.

Asked why the tender had been reduced to a small quantity, they said it was for immediate requirement.

BSNL had cancelled the 93-million-line tender amid controversies that the process lacked competition and that the PSU did not require that kind of capacity addition at one go.

Leading vendor Nokia-Siemens, which was disqualified from participating in the financial bid, had also challenged the decision of the telecom PSU in court.