BSNL aims to target predominantly rural subscribers with its Wimax services. Networking 40,000 primary and secondary schools is also part of a mega tender.

“There is already an MoU to this effect between the HRD ministry and DoT,” a senior BSNL official said.

BSNL claims to have already started a pilot in eight cities, with around 10-11 companies showing interest in providing the equipment for the project.

BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal had announced last week that the company will call for expressions of interest (EoI) in about a week for deploying 2 million Wi-Max lines.

The order size is reportedly to be about Rs 2,000 crore and will be able to cover some 25,000 villages in a year.