The Shura Council on Tuesday ordered the Prime Minister’s Tender Office to allow Cairo based Orascom to bid for the operation of one of Lebanon’s cellular networks, a step that would derail Telecom Minister Boutros Harb’s efforts to find new companies to run the mobile companies soon.
The Tender Office disqualified Orascom, which currently operates Alfa, from making a new bid to run of the networks under the pretext that this firm failed to submit its application on time.
The deadline for submitting initial offers was July 31.
The General Manager of Alfa Marwan Hayek insisted that he filed the request on July 31.
However, officials from the Telecom Ministry argue that the tender office closes at 4 p.m. and Hayek submitted the tender at 5 p.m.
The decision of the Shura Council is mandatory and all government departments and agencies must fully comply with the verdicts passed by this council.
The Tender Office was supposed to name the firms that applied for the tender Thursday and disclose the names of the winners Friday.
The Telecom Ministry was not available for comment about the Shura Council’s decision.
A source told The Daily Star that only two out of the six companies that bought the terms of the contracts applied for the tender.
He added that the rules stipulate that at least three companies should vie for the tender.
In August, Harb announced the names of six companies selected to take part in the bidding to manage Lebanon’s two mobile networks.
Seven international firms came forward requesting to take part in the bidding, Harb announced. Orascom was rejected by the Tender Office as it did not meet certain requirements.
The six companies that made the cut included Zain (Kuwait), which is currently managing touch, Vodafone (U.K.), Orange (France), Maxis (Malaysia), Turkcell (Turkey), and Detecon (Germany).
“Orange and Kuwait-based company Zain, which currently operates touch, have applied for the tender and both were supposed to be named the winners Friday,” the source revealed.
Harb was striving to find new operators for the cellular networks under new conditions.
Both touch and Alfa run a network of more than 4 million subscribers in Lebanon.
According to the new tender conditions, the winning telecom firms will run the networks for two years and can be renewed for another year.
The contract with touch and Alfa expires at the end of 2015.
The Cabinet will most likely extend the contracts with both companies to allow the Telecom Ministry to hammer out new terms and conditions for a new tender.
A source expressed doubts that more companies would apply for the tender due to the delicate conditions Lebanon is passing through.
Harb Tuesday transferred $103 million to the Finance Ministry’s account at the Central Bank for the month of September. The telecom revenue is seen as the treasury’s second-biggest source of income.
Telecom experts believe no major breakthrough in the telecom sector is expected to take place soon as long as the country is plagued with political, social and economic problems.
By Osama Habib
