Bangkok Post | January 10, 2011 | Komsan Tortermvasana
3G contender field narrowed from 10
Only four groups are expected to pursue bids for TOT’s 3G wireless broadband nationwide expansion worth 19.98 billion baht when bid documents are submitted today.
The field has been thinned from 10 groups that bought bidding documents from the state telecom enterprise last month, say industry sources.
The four contenders are expected to include Samart Corporation in a consortium with Loxley and Huawei Technology; Forth Corporation together with ZTE (Thailand); Advanced Information Technology (AIT) together with Alcatel-Lucent (Thailand) and U-Tel Co, a subsidiary of United Communications.
The fourth bidder would be Ericsson, either alone or with Jasmine International Group.
As expected, Huawei and ZTE of China are in the chase as both have been active rivals in pursuing work for state enterprises.
Pongchai Amatanont, managing director of Forth Corporation, confirmed that the SET-listed telecom equipment specialist which installed smart traffic signs board for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, would take part with ZTE (Thailand).
Kamthon Waithayakul, senior executive vice-president for mobile business of TOT, said the fact that bidders were forming consortia came as no surprise.
TOT will screen the bidders’ track records, which can include participation in large local or foreign telecom projects. A foreign companies must demonstrate experience with projects worth at least 500 million baht abroad, with certification from its home country’s embassy.
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