Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei, both having a strong presence in Ethiopia, and an Israeli firm ECI submitted technical and commercial proposals for the expansion project planned by the Ethiopian telecom provider, last week. 
The three companies are only three of the seven international telecom network providers who received invitations from Ethio Telecom to submit expressions of interest said Abdurahim Ahmed Ethio Telecom External Communications Manager.
Ethio Telecom has been evaluating the expressions of interest it received over the past months he said. The proposals were then returned to the companies to instigate revisions according to the terms and provisions established by the contract.The three companies’ submitted their final technical and commercial proposals after a year long process involving the Ethio Telecom management.
It is expected that Ethio Telecom will select one of the companies after the evaluation of the proposals expected to take about three months said sources.
The expansion project is expected to enhance the mobile phone network to carry up to 50 million lines as well as installing additional fiber optics to the current system and carrying out similar network installation processes.
Sourcce: The Reporter
