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Saudi Firms to Award $267 Mln Deal to Cisco, Thales | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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RIYADH (Reuters) -Three Saudi firms led by mobile telecommunications operator Mobily will award a deal worth 1 billion riyals ($266.7 million) to Cisco Systems and France’s Thales, a Mobily spokesman said on Saturday.

“We will sign on Tuesday the contract in Riyadh. The deal provides for the setting up of a fiber optic backbone structure for data,” Hamoud al-Ghobaini, Mobily’s corporate communications manager, told Reuters.

The two other Saudi firms are data services providers Bayanat al-Oula for Network Services and Integrated Telecom Company Ltd.

“We have contributed the biggest share of the contract (value),” Ghobaini said without giving further details.

Mobily currently relies on the network of its rival, Saudi Telecom (STC)– the state-run telecom firm which operates a mobile telecommunications services and is the sole provider of land telephone services.

“This deal will enable us to considerably cut costs incurred from fees we pay to STC and to improve the quality of our internet services on mobile phones and diversify them,” he said.