Alcatel wins RP's phone contract

Alcatel wins RP's phone contract

MANILA (AFP): Germany's Alcatel AG, a unit of Alcatel-Alsthom of France, won a 500,000-dollar telecoms contract in the Philippines, German Post and Telecommunications Minister Wolfgang Boetsch said yesterday.

The contract involved the installation of 500 telephone lines the southern Philippine island of Camiguin, said the minister, who is visiting Manila.

The Philippine government project, set to be implemented not later than next month, is partly funded by German loans and grants, Boetsch told reporters after a meeting with his Philippine counterpart Amado Lagdameo.

Lagdameo said Manila was seeking additional funding from Germany for similar facilities in underserved areas of the archipelago.

Boetsch called on President Fidel Ramos and delivered a speech before members of the European Chamber of Commerce here Tuesday.

In his speech, Boetsch called for global deregulation of telecommunications services.

"By liberal I mean here that foreign companies likewise have access to the relevant domestic market and are treated in exactly the same way as the domestic companies," he said.

"Liberalization that allows competition solely among national companies is liberalization that has lost its way."