Motorola has pocketed a $90 million (Rs 360 crore) deal from state-owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for supplying GSM network equipment.

The deal will enable BSNL to strengthen its network capacity by adding up over 2.3 million subscribers on its GSM network in the southern region.

Under the contract, Motorola will ship GSM network equipment and provide network services support including software and hardware support to BSNL, the fourth biggest wireless telecoms firm in India.

In a statement, Motorola said that it has already started supplying equipment to BSNL since April.

Subhendu Mohanty, Motorola India country lead for Home and Networks Mobility, stated, “We are delighted to announce that BSNL has chosen Motorola to address its critical 2G network expansion requirement. This year marks 20 years of Motorola's commitment to the Indian market and we are proud to be a part of the telecom growth story. We will endeavour to grow our market engagements and deliver maximum value to our customers, be it serving their current needs or planning for future growth.”

BSNL's subsisting network in its southern region already has 2G equipment supplied by Motorola. This growth will significantly build up the network by adding from Motorola's best-of-breed second generation GSM solutions.

BSNL has decided to add up 33.5 million mobile lines in the existing fiscal (2008-09).

In April, BSNL stated that it had a capacity of 36 million GSM lines, the majority of which had been exhausted, and 5.5 million CDMA lines, out of which it had 1 million free.

As on March 31, 2008, the company had a total of 40.8 million subscribers out of a total of 261.1 million users in India. Market leader Bharti Airtel had nearly 62 million users, Reliance 45.8 million and Vodafone Essar 44.1 million, according to data from India's telecom regulator.