ICE Has Three Suitors
For 3G
In the second try at
attracting bidders to
install the new 3G
cellular service in
Costa Rica, the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE)
has three suitors,
Huawei Technologies, ZTE
and Ericsson.
The lowest bidder to
install the 950.000
lines of the next
generation of cellular
service was made by
China's Huawei at us$245
million dollars,
followed by Ericsson at
us$340 million and ZTE
at us$446 million.
Huawei was the only
bidder during the first
offering earlier this
year, coming in with a
bid of us$580 million
dollars for a 1.5
million line network.
ICE, at the urging of
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias, rejected
that bid and put out a
new tender for 550.000
les lines and less
features.
The state institution
has to now make a choice
of provider in a process
that should take about a
year to analyze, make a
selection and have the
network installed.
According to ICE, the
new network should be
operating by the end of
2009.
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