September 19, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 06, 1428

DOHA, Sept 18: Telecom giants Vodafone and AT and T are among seven firms bidding for a second mobile phone licence in Qatar, the gas-rich state’s telecommunications regulator said on Tuesday.

It listed the pre-qualified candidates as: ACE Consortium that includes India’s Airtel, Argos Consortium including the US Verizon, AT and T of the United States, Bahrain’s Batelco, Etisalat of the Emirates, Kuwait’s Zain and Britain’s Vodafone.

“The process to select the winning candidate is expected to be finalised in early November,” the regulator said in a statement.

The new operator will break the monopoly of state-controlled Q-Tel.—AFP