WASHINGTON-The U.S.-led administration in Iraq decided not to release the names of consortia that bid last week on three regional mobile-phone licenses up for grabs in Iraq.
“When all evaluations have been carefully reviewed and evaluated, the Coalition Provisional Authority contracting agency will notify the winning and losing bidders directly. After that bidder notification period, a press release may be forthcoming through the CPA contracting agency,” said a Pentagon spokesman.
The CPA, headed by L. Paul Bremer, is set to announce license winners late next week or early the following week.
Industry and government officials estimated that 10 to 20 applications may have been submitted to the CPA. While the application deadline passed last Thursday, discussions between consortia and equipment vendors are said to be continuing. Wireless infrastructure and mobile-phone contracts could be worth several hundred million dollars.
Meantime, Zagil Wireless, an investment group of Iraqi telecom and business leaders, said Sunday it is competing for rights to operate GSM mobile-phone systems in Iraq.
“We are . very excited to be working with worldwide telecommunications leaders like L.M. Ericsson and MCI to provide state-of-the-art turnkey solutions and services,” said Francis Dinha, chief executive officer and founding member of Zagis.
In May, MCI, now in jeopardy of being banned from U.S. government contracts, was selected by the Department of Defense to build and operate a mobile-phone network in Baghdad for government, military and humanitarian aid personnel in a $34 million deal that attracted substantial criticism.
