The Saudi telecom watchdog said on Saturday it has disqualified Egypt's Orascom and India's MTNL, two of nine consortiums bidding for the kingdom's third mobile phone licence.
"Orascom Telecom and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd) were disqualified," Sultan al-Malik, spokesman of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), told Reuters. CITC said in a statement seven consortiums had qualified.
These include South Africa's MTN, Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co (MTC), Kingdom Holding Co, owned by billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal which is bidding with Turkish mobile operator Turkcell, and Dubai-based Oger Telecom, controlled by Lebanon's Hariri family. Orascom and MTNL had been seen as major contenders.