Press Releases

Connect Austria awards network expansion contract to Nokia

Contract covers 3,000 base stations and is valued at an estimated 3.5 billion AS - Mid-range plans call for two network suppliers

Yesterday (Monday), Austria4s third mobile radiotelephone service provider, Connect Austria, announced its decision on a partner for supplying and installing the network components. The contract for the preliminary expansion phase up until mid-1999 has been awarded to Finnish network specialist Nokia. Besides Nokia, the short list of candidates also included Ericsson and Nortel. This was announced by Connect Austria in a press release today (Tuesday).
Since all three bids were equally good, the nod went to the "most economical" bid, the company stated in its press release. The contract for Nokia covers delivery of some 3,000 base stations. The investment volume of the contract will be announced at a hastily convened press conference scheduled for 6:00 PM today. Estimates place the total value of the contract at around 3.5 billion AS.
Over the mid-term, Connect plans to cooperate with at least two network suppliers. The next investment decision will probably be taken in the second half of 1999.