Companies bid for Nigerian phone line contract

Five companies including Siemens AG, Alcatel and LM Ericsson AB are bidding for a US$150m contract to install telephone lines in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.

This was announced by the state-owned telecoms company NITEL.

NITEL has disclosed that the other two companies seeking the contract to install 250,000 new lines were China's ZTE and Huwea Technologies.

A spokesperson has said that NITEL management had met executives from the bidding companies last week, and NITEL say once the deal is struck they hope the job will be completed within nine months.