Alcatel wins bid for Thai telecoms<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AFP): French telecoms giant Alcatel Thursday won the
\ncontract to construct a fiber-optic cable network for Thailand, a
\nspokesman for the state telephone organization said.<\/p>\n
The board of the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT)
\nannounced Alcatel had won the 178.5-million dollar project known
\nas SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) after the company cut its
\noriginal price by 10 percent to 5.8 billion baht (US$136.5
\nmillion).<\/p>\n
Rival Japanese Fujikura refused to lower its bidding price
\nwhile German company Siemens agreed to lower its offer by only
\nthree percent.<\/p>\n
"Overall the winning bid of 7.6 billion baht ($178.5 million)
\nis much lower than the allocated budget of 10.4 billion baht set
\nby the government," a TOT statement said.<\/p>\n
Philippe Chettou, managing director of Alcatel's operations in
\nThailand, told AFP he was "proud that Alcatel was the first
\nsupplier of a fully integrated network to Thailand," adding that
\n"the network will stand as a reference for us in Southeast Asia."<\/p>\n
In September Alcatel won a 1.8-billion baht ($42-million)
\ncontract to supply transmission equipment for the construction of
\nthe system network.<\/p>\n
Chettou rejected any allegations of collusion or of offering
\nan artificially low price: "We don't dump prices, the risk is too
\nimportant. As a worldwide company we have no reason to deflate
\nprices."<\/p>\n
The network will vastly upgrade Thailand's telephone and
\nInternet infrastructure and will result in lower fees for phone
\ncustomers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/alcatel-wins-bid-for-thai-telecoms-1447893297",
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