In recent weeks, Swedish telecommunications manufacturer Ericsson has set up a sample cellular telephone system, working on GSM technology, in Tel Aviv. The work involved setting up 50 base stations on rented sites. The aim is to demonstrate the systems performance to two consortia competing in the tender for setting up a third cellular system in Israel.
So far, over $2 million has been invested in setting up the system. Ericsson Israel general manager Bo Anderson said in Stockholm that the company had so far invested some $10 million in establishing its Israeli subsidiary. He said Ericsson Israel intends to be the fifth largest telecommunications suppler in Israel, after Motorola, Tadiran Telecommunications, Telrad, and ECI Telecom.
Anderson claimed that Ericsson is capable of setting up the first stage of the cellular system, which will cover 60% of Israel’s population, within a month to two months. He said the estimated cost of setting up the whole third cellular system in Israel was $300-350 million.
Ericsson is competing in tenders of the Partner and Orange consortia, which are the leading contenders in the State tender after submission of the financial bids. Other companies competing in the tenders are Lucent of the US, Alcatel, and Nortel. Siemens and Motorola are competing in the Partner tender with a joint bid.
The decision of the Tenders committee, headed by Ministry of Communications director-general Danny Rosenne, on the winner in the tender for setting up the third cellular network, is expected to be given within the next couple of months.