Ten consortia bid for Saudi fixed phone licence

RIYADH, Mar 10 (Reuters) Consortia led by Verizon Communications and India's Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. are among 10 bidding for Saudi Arabia's second fixed line licence, the country's telecom regulator said on Saturday.

The licence is set to break state-controlled Saudi Telecom's (STC) monopoly over fixed-line phone services, source of around half of its revenues in 2006.

China Telecom , South Korea's KT Corp. , and Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (Batelco) are also bidding with local Saudi firms, Sultan al-Malik, a senior manager at Communications and Information Technology Commission, told Reuters.

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