JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nigerian mobile network operator Nitel stated that three companies, Siemens, Ericsson and an unnamed Chinese company, may win the bid to supply additional GSM capacity for 1 million subscribers in the second phase of the company’s network rollout.
A Nitel spokesman said that although the process has not been concluded it appears likely that Siemens will be the main equipment supplier with the unnamed Chinese company coming second.
Swedish telecom equipment company Ericsson supplied the infrastructure for the first phase of the network although the spokesman said it had been “problematic” and that members of the evaluation committee are reconsidering the operator’s commitments.
The first phase of the Nitel GSM network rollout cost US$39 million for a capacity of 120,000 subscribers.
