> 10:03 p.m. Feb 27, 1998 Eastern
>
> ABIDJAN, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Four U.S. firms were among 12
> telecommunications companies that put in preliminary bids on Friday for
> a $1.2 billion African satellite project.
>
> All 12 bidders were represented at the public opening of bid submissions
> at the headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, of the Regional African
> Satellite Communications Organization (Rascom).
>
> Billed as the biggest pan-African investment, the satellite is intended
> to propel the world's least developed continent into the 21st century by
> giving it reliable and cheaper telephone links within Africa and with
> the rest of the world.
>
> The U.S. companies seeking to join a Rascom consortium that will build
> and operate Africa's first telecommunications satellite are Intelsat,
> Hughes Space and Communications Intl, African Continental
> Telecommunications Ltd and Comsat RSI.
>
> Two companies bid from France -- Alcatel Alsthom and East.
>
> Other bidders were Germany's Deutsches-Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt
> e.V, China Great Wall Industry Corp, Italy's Alenia Aerospazio, Inmarsat
> of Britain, Plessey Corp Ltd of South Africa and Norway's Nera
> Telecommunications.
>
> Rascom said in a statement it would compile a short list of bidders
> ``within a few weeks'' and those pre-qualified would be asked to make
> specific proposals.
>
> Rascom expects the satellite to be launched in the first quarter of
> 2001.
>
> The contract will be on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, with
> Rascom itself as a member of the consortium.
>
> The project will include installation of 500,000 fixed solar-powered
> telephone stations with international access across the continent over a
> seven-year period.
>
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