CORRECTED
China's Huawei Awarded
3G Phone Deal
The Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) said
it awarded China's
Huawei Technologies the
us$235 million dollar contract
to install a
third-generation mobile
phone network.
The 3G network is
expected to add 900.000
new lines to the
country's cellular
network and should be
operational by the end
of the year, said
Claudio Bermudez,
operational manager for
ICE.
Huawei beat out Ericcson
and Chinese rival, ZTE
Corporation, in getting
the contract after a
failed bid last year
when ICE cancelled the
bid when Huawei came in
with a us$580 million
dollar bid for 1.5
million lines.
ICE, on the behest of
Costa Rican president,
cancelled the bid even
though Huawei was the
top bidder. The new bud
was streamlined and the
number of lines reduced
to 900.000.
The 3G move will give
mobile users access to
high-end data
applications on their
phones, including
high-speed interactive
gaming and Internet
access, video
conferencing, video
streaming and other
multimedia features.
|
