The Andhra Pradesh government saved ₹33.76 crore by procuring 2,64,920 4G SIM cards from Airtel for distribution to employees of village and ward secretariats and village volunteers, through reverse tendering.
According to an official release, the Andhra Pradesh Technology Services (APTS) floated the tenders for procuring 4G SIMs and opened the financial bids on November 6 and conducted the reverse auction the next day with the lowest quoted price as the opening price.
The L1 price quoted for procurement of 4G SIMs was ₹121.54 crore (based on monthly postpaid plan for three years).
Taking this amount as the opening price, APTS conducted the reverse auction for the bidders.
After the reverse auction, the successful bidder quoted ₹87.77 crore, which was ₹33.76 crore less than the L1 price quoted originally.
When this amount is calculated on a monthly basis, the postpaid plan is available at ₹92.04 per month. The plan offers unlimited free national and local voice calls, 100 free SMSes per day and free data of minimum 1 GB per day at 4G speed (FUP applicable after 1 GB limit). In the open market, the same postpaid plan is available at ₹199 a month.
