Qatar narrows mobile licence auction to 7 candidates (Qatar)Qatar has accepted seven offers for its second mobile licence on offer, announced the market regulator ictQATAR. The qualified bidders include the ACE consortium with Indian operator Airtel, the Argos consortium with Verizon, AT&T, Batelco, Etisalat, MTC and Vodafone. The list of offers was narrowed from an original 12 companies that had qualified to make an offer. Those dropping out of the race are Orascon Telecom, Jordan Telecom, Digicel, Reliance Telecom and a consortium of Belgacom and Omantel. The seven final bids will now receive a technical evaluation, including criteria such as prior experience, proposed network roll-out schedule, technology and service offerings, business plans and the level of operator commitment. Candidates who qualify after the technical evaluation will have their financial proposals submitted to a single-round auction process. The licence will be awarded to the qualified candidate with the highest bid.
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