Ericsson and ZTE have complained about the tender process being carried out by Thailand’s state-owned telco, TOT over its US$650 million 3G network contract. The TOT had issued a preliminary statement that ruled the two companies out of the bidding.
Ericsson was barred from bidding for apparently failing to submit catalogues for antenna-related products and concerns that any dispute would have to be resolved in a Swedish court as opposed to the local Thai legal code. ZTE was reportedly disqualified for providing “unrealistic financial calculations”, which could relate to its claim that it could offer to deploy the network for under US$500 million.
An auction to formally award the tender is due to take place on the 28th January, with the contract expected to be signed in the middle of February.
“[The missing catalogue] is simply a minor issue based on the fact that we submitted more than 100,000 pages of documents for this project. It should not be a major reason for disqualification,” Joacim Damgard, the president and country manager of Ericsson (Thailand) told the Bangkok Post. “We think the results will limit TOT’s opportunity to ensure a competitive auction in the next stage for the best commercial and technical solution,” he added.
ZTE plans to petition Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and said that it will “fight to the end” if it does not receive “fair treatment” from the state-owned company.
