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Bangkok (pte042/09.03.2005/14:45) - Siemens, Ericsson and Marubeni are all to join an electronic auction for a 6.5 billion Thai Bhat (1.27 billion euro) telephone expansion project of Thai state-owned telecoms agency TOT, according to the company's president. Last week, TOT scrapped a bid for the 565,000-line expansion plan won by Siemens in December, following the government's policy to hold e-auctions for state projects to ensure better prices. According to Teerawit Charuwut, TOT's president, the e-auction will be held at the end of this month. The duration of the auction will be 30 minutes.
"The starting price for the whole project will be 6.5 billion Thai Bhat (1.27 billion euros) that we earlier agreed with Siemens. We think that competition will drive the price lower," Teerawit said. Each bidder will be required to quote the price for the project, which will cover three locations in Thailand. TOT will pick the lowest bid for each location, he said. "There may be more than one winning bidder," he added. The starting prices for the first, second and third locations are 2.33 billion Thai Bhat (455,000 euros), 2.11 billion Thai Bhat (412,000 euros) and 2.06 billion Thai Bhat (402,000 euros) respectively.
Last month, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that Siemens' bid would likely be scrapped as the price was too high. Thaksin said he didn't expect Siemens to take legal action over this, given its long presence in Thailand. Siemens said at the time that it would be "unfair" to cancel the deal, and that it would consider legal action. However, a Siemens spokesman said last week that the company accepted TOT's decision and that it wouldn't contest it.
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