ICE Should Not Award 3G
Contract To Chinese,
Arias Says
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias, has asked
the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE), not
to award the Chinese
company, Huwai
Technologies, the bid
for the new 3G cellular
lines, asking the state
telecom to open up the
bidding again.
Huwai was the sole
bidder for the 1.5
million cellular lines
of the 3G generation
that ICE has promised
the country for next
year, after several
other bidders, like
Nokia, Siemens and ZTE
(Samsung), backed out.
The Chinese bid came in
at more than twice the
amount of us$225 million
dollars ICE had budgeted
for the lines.
The bid deadline was on
August 4 when Huwaie was
the only bidder to
tender a proposal of
us$583 million dollars.
According to ICE
president, Pedro Pablo
Quirós, Arias asked him
two weeks later not to
award the contract and
open a new bid so that
other companies can make
their offers.
President Arias said
yesterday "it is
important to ensure that
the actors involved in
these processes are the
fittest and who offer
better conditions".
Arias added that the
decision can only be
made by comparing
various offers,
something that is
missing in this case.
"Oscar Arias is
respectful of autonomy,
knows that a contest
follows rules which will
meet in every sense, and
he expressed one of the
possible decisions",
said Quirós on the
presidential request.
Quirós added that in his
letter, Arias recognizes
that the decision to
open up the bid again
will postpone ICE's
plans to have the 3G
network up and running
by the middle of next
year.
"We have a new law where
the rules of the game
changed and now have
more flexibility to make
more agile purchases",
said Quirós, referring
to the recently approved
law that opens up the
telecommunications
industry in the country
and strengthens ICE's
position and gives it
the ability to compete
in an open market.
When the bid was
established the new law
had yet to be passed.
Yesterday afternoon,
Ericsson de Costa Rica
representatives said
publicly that they would
be willing to offer its
expertise in 3G to ICE.
Ericsson currently
operates one of two GSM
networks in Costa Rica.
|
