Nokia apparent winner of Vodafone 3G contract

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Finland's Nokia is understood to have landed the multi-million dollar deal to provide Vodafone Australia and New Zealand with third generation cellular networks.

After weeks of fending off queries about the all-important vendor selection process for the deal, Vodafone emailed staff on Friday evening advising them that contractual arrangements with a vendor were being finalised.

That vendor is understood to be Nokia. The deal sees the incumbent Nokia edge out Ericsson Communications, Nortel Networks, Siemens and NEC to win the deal. Those other vendors have been notified of Nokia's success in the tender. International teams of specialists who worked on the deal have left the country.

Nokia will now undertake what will probably be the biggest telecoms network build of the next couple of years.

The deal is believed to be worth several hundred million dollars to Nokia over a number of years.

Vodafone spokeswoman would not confirm the vendor selection but said an announcement on the vendor selection was expected within two weeks.

Once implemented, the 3G network will allow Vodafone customers access to a broader range of mobile phone services including video calls, high-speed data transfers and internet access that resembles Jetstream-type landline services. (Jetstream is Telecom's ADSL service.)

That will allow Vodafone to compete with Telecom's CDMA IxRTT technology-based network which has better speeds for some products and services.

It is expected that Vodafone will bolster its online portal service once the network is up and running.

Nokia began advertising for a range of senior network staff late last month but also denied it had landed the deal.

Among the staff it is hunting are those of project manager, rollout manager, project engineer for civil and technical planning, senior network planners, two for radio frequency and one for internet protocol and a cost and progress manager.

The contract with Vodafone sees Nokia providing it with a "price per unit" that includes equipment and services. Any cost overruns are covered by Nokia.

TelstraClear is also looking to build a cellular network in New Zealand and many of the same players are pitching for its business.

Rosemary Howard, TelstraClear chief executive has often said she would rather partner on a cellular network project rather than build one from scratch.

TelstraClear is still in discussions with vendors and Nokia is also pitching for that business.