Bid for Spore telecom

Bid for Spore telecom

SINGAPORE (AFP): Three consortiums comprising Singaporean and foreign partners have submitted tenders to operate full telecommunication services in Singapore from April 2000, industry regulators said over the weekend.

The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS), which had set a May 31 deadline for tenders, said it will now carry out a pre-qualification exercise to weed out unsuitable bidders and produce a shortlist.

The TAS earlier said it would license up to two new players to compete in basic services against giant Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel).

The first bidding consortium, called TelcomOne, includes Singapore's Keppel Telecoms Pte. Ltd. and publisher Singapore Press Holdings Ltd., partnered with Britain's Cable and Wireless Pte. and Hong Kong Telecom Ltd.

The TelcomOne partners are behind MobileOne (Asia) Pte. Ltd. or M1, a cellular phone and pager operator which has enjoyed strong sales since its launch on April 1, when competition in mobile communications began here.