Ericsson has won a contract worth up to $826 million to expand Saudi Arabia's GSM mobile telecom network, reported Silicon.com on Monday.
Ericsson will provide the total core network throughout the kingdom, as well as the major portion of the Saudi Telecommunications Company's (STC) radio network, covering the central and Eastern provinces as well as the Jeddah area, said the news service.
The expansion is set to make STC the largest and the most advanced GSM network in the Middle East and the project is due for completion by the end of 2002.
Currently, 85 percent of the capacity of 2.6 million subscribers has already been taken and it is growing by 120,000 users a month, said the news service.
It said that the contract was a big win for Ericsson, which has seen its shares decline 71 percent in the past year.
The company has axed 10,000 of its staff in a restructuring program, according to Silicon.com.
Finland's Nokia won the remaining portion of STC's radio network in a contract worth up to $200 million, it added – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
