SOUTH AFRICA TENDER

Eight consortia are officially in the running for the third cellular license in South Africa. A ninth, Zintatu Communication Power, was disqualified. The eight consortia are Telenor/Telia; Nextcom Cellular (Pty) Ltd.; Afrozone Telecoms (Pty) Ltd.; Five Mobile Networks (FMN); Africa Speaks Cellular (Pty) Ltd.; Spatial Cellular; Cell C (Pty) Ltd.; and Khuluma 084 Cellular. All eight bidders have opted for GSM 1800 as their technology of choice. AfricaSpeaks, with Nextel Communications as a backer, also has the option introducing iDEN.