wnp@relay.eu.net (wolf paul) (11/16/90)
Translated from an article in Vienna's "DER STANDARD" of Nov. 16, 1990: The deadline for bids to modernize Hungary's telephone system is in about two weeks, and the competition among the world's largest suppliers of central office equipment is reaching a climax. The winner will get a contract to install switching equipment for approximately 1.5 million subscriber lines, valued at about one billion dollars. Three Austrian companies are among the bidders: Schrack and Kapsch through their joint-venture company Austria Telecom, as well as Siemens Austria. Other competitors include all of the world's telecom giants, like the Swedish Ericsson, the French/German Alcatel-SEL, as well as Japanese companies. "We're in a good starting position", Siemens' Telecom Export Manager Alfred Gruenzweig is certain. Siemens already has met one of the main requirements of the Hungarian PTT by establishing a joint-venture company with a Hungarian company, Budapest's telephone manufacturer "Telefongyar", for the production of system components. In order to save hard currency, one of the major criteria in the decision will be the proportion of system components to be manufactured in Hungary. Austria Telecom (AT), a joint venture of Austrian telecom companies Kapsch and Schrack, is another bidder. AT is offering a European version of Northern Telecom's DMS family, which is being adapted in Austria under the name "OES-D". AT's partner for the eventual production of central office switches is Hungary's BHG. The Hungarian PTT intends to announce its decision before the end of the year. In a manner paralleling the situation in Austria, two suppliers will be chosen, each of which will receive 35% of the total volume. The remaining 30% will be awarded on the basis of individual project bids from these two suppliers. The details of financing the modernizing project have not yet been worked out; among the options are World Bank loans. Wolf N. Paul, UNIX SysAdmin, IIASA, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa@relay.eu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, this message was truncated at about the point it ends, above. I printed what I was able to reconstruct. PAT]