New Delhi, April 16: Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) today got the clearance for its mobile telephony expansion as equipment maker Motorola withdrew a case that challenged the award of contracts to add 45.5 million new lines to rival firms.

Delhi High Court had earlier ordered BSNL, which has 27.4 million mobile users and enjoys a 22.59 per cent market share, to freeze the Rs 20,000-crore contracts to Ericsson and Nokia.

Justices Manmohan Sarin and S. L. Bhayana vacated the interim stay after the Motorola counsel told the court it wanted to withdraw the petition to maintain good business relations with BSNL.

Motorola, however, clarified that the withdrawal of the petition didn’t reflect any change in its original position.

“The withdrawal does not reflect upon the merits of the petition filed and was done to maintain cordial business relationship with BSNL and to assist it in the proposed expansion,” Motorola said.

The contracts to add 45.5 million lines to BSNL’s GSM network will now be implemented.

“Ericsson, which was the lowest bidder, will get 60 per cent of the 45.5 million lines, while the second-lowest bidder, Nokia, will get the remaining share of the Northeast and west zone,” said D. P. Singh, director-general of BSNL.

“We will award the contract in the next two weeks...lots of details have to be worked out,” said S.D. Saxena, director (finance), BSNL. The size of the contract can be doubled if required, he added.

Last year, BSNL had floated a tender to expand its GSM network. Motorola was disqualified on technical grounds on October 7, just two days before opening of the financial bids.

It later challenged the decision in the high court. On November 2 last year, the high court stayed the contracts.