Major International Cellular Projects as of 10/19/95 Argentina Telecom and Telefonica will operate cellular networks in competition with CTI in the north and south regions, to start in 1996. Austria accepted bids for its second GSM license on October 13, 1995, with a decision expected in mid- December. However, the collabse of the coalition government and new elections planned for December may delay the process. It will be a 15-year license, and service must be launched by July 1, 1996. Azerbaijan plans to announced a tender for the installation and operation of a GSM cellular system in October 1995. Belgium awarded its second cellular license in September 1995 to Mobistar, a consortium led by France Telecom. Despite its lower concession fee, Mobistar was chosen because of its "interesting tariff structure" and promise of significant local employment. The group plans to invest US$ 500 million in order to provide coverage to 97% of the country within nine months. Brazil passed a Constitutional Amendment to allow private operation of telecommunications services. Most experts expect cellular to be one of the first sectors to be liberalized. This would allow the long-delayed tender for regional Band-B licenses to compete with the regional government monopoly operators to go forward. Also, Telebras plans to install digital cellular network equipment for Sao Paolo. The company is leaning towards CDMA. Telebras may also recruit a partner for its mobile communications business. Chile CTC Celular plans to spend $25 million over the next two years to digitalize its cellular network. China The Ministry of Electronics has decided to establish a new equipment supplier, Golden Cellular, which is reportedly looking for a manufacturing joint venture. Cote d'Ivoire plans to license more than one cellular operator. Czech Republic will issue a GSM tender in October 1995, after being postponed. The deadline for bids is expected to be in December 1995. Egypt Tender for a GSM cellular network is on hold indefinately. Though the project is expected "eventually to proceed," no schedule has been announced. Security concerns are contributing to the delay. An earlier competition for a GSM license was cancelled. ARENTO plans to operate the GSM network itself. El Salvador plans to license a second cellular operator by the end of 1995. Guatemala cancelled its tender for a second cellular license in September 1995. A new tender may be delayed by legal challenges to the cancellation. Haiti has accepted four bids for a national cellular license. The winner will be required to provide service to Port au Prince within five months of the contract signing, pay a fee of not over US$ 500,000, and negotiate with Rectel, whose cellular license was revoked, to purchase their previously installed cellular equipment. A decision could be announced by the end of October 1995, though CONATEL has warned that the tender could be re- opened if no winner is selected. Honduras accepted bids from Motorola and Portatel of Mexico for a cellular license 12/28/93. The issue has not yet been resolved. India on June 7, 1995 accepted bids from 33 firms for GSM licenses in 19 regions. Two licenses will be awarded for each region. India is concurrently licensing competitive wireline operators in each region; all the fixed network bidders also bid for GSM licenses in the same regions. Indonesia Telkom, which has stakes in two of the three GSM licenses, is reportedly looking for foreign partners for both businesses. Ireland accepted bids for a second GSM cellular license on August 4, 1995. Evaluation is currently underway. An decision is expected in December 1995. Andersen Management International won the competition for the independent consultancy contract to assess the license bids. Korea will issue a number of regional paging licenses before the end of 1995. Luxembourg will soon launch competition for a second GSM license. Malaysia TRI/Celcom, cellular operator in Malaysia, is reportedly seeking a strategic partner to assist the company in the extremely competitive Malaysian market. Nepal is preparing a tender for two GSM licenses which should be announced by the end of 1995. One license will go to the Nepal Telecommunications Corp. if the company desires it. Oman General Telecommunications Organization (GTO) opened a tender for the provision and installation of a GSM network valued at $36-52 million. Status unknown. Panama has several cellular projects in the works. 1. INTEL, the government-owned local phone company, will operate an AMPS cellular network in Band-B, and has prequalified companies to supply the infrastructure equipment. Startup is planned for May/June 1996. INTEL also may be seeking a strategic partner for its cellular operations, which could be spun off to a subsidiary 51 percent owned by INTEL. 2. A cellular license using Band-A will be awarded to a private company to compete with INTEL, also using AMPS. Eight companies have prequalified, and an award is expected in December 1995. INTEL in June 1995 announced a competition for a study of implementing cellular in Panama. Prequalification documents were due on June 13. STATUS?? Peru cellular operator Tele2000 is seeking a U.S. strategic partner to take a significant stake in the company. Paine Webber is investigating offers. Poland will announce tenders for two GSM licenses on October 18, 1995, with the deadline for submission of bids about two months later. An award is expected in March 1996. The minimum bid is US$ 130 million. Investment for each network is estimated at US$ 1 billion. Bids will be judged on offered price, the network development plan, and customer service. Romania must pass new legislation to allow for a planned tender for two national GSM licenses to compete with the NMT-450 and GSM networks of Telefonica Romania. Senegal issued a tender for a 20-year GSM license, to compete with SONATEL, the national telco, which plans to install a digital cellular network by 1998. Bids are to be opened in October 1995. In addition, SONATEL issued a tender in May 1995 for GSM cellular equipment and phones, billed as an upgrade to its current, quasi-cellular Radiocomm 2000 system. Bids were due July 4. Singapore awarded a new cellular license to MobileOne, which will build both a CDMA and a GSM network. The company cannot start operations until Singapore Telecom's monopoly runs out on April 1, 1997. Equipment contracts for both CDMA and GSM will be awarded by the end of 1995. Slovenia has commissioned a study on the best cellular licensing process and market structure for GSM. Taiwan will officially announce the liberalization of its cellular telephone market and describe the bidding process in December 1995. by allowing one private competitor to DGT in late 1995 or 1996. Also, DGT plans to expand both its AMPS and GSM networks in 1995 due to overwhelming demand (120,000 on the waiting list). Venezuela may auction one or two GSM licenses in 1996. Zimbabwe announced a new GSM tender 12/23/94. One part if for GSM equipment, the other for management assistance in operating the network. Bids were due 2/9/95. Status unknown. For additional information on any of these projects, contact the Stephanie McCullough, Office of Telecommunications, 202-482-4202.