Ten vendors have submitted bids to the GSM Association (GSMA) to produce a low-cost third-generation (3G) mobile handset, the group’s chairman said Monday.“The senior management team is right now looking at those tenders,” said Craig Ehrlich, the chairman of the GSMA’s board of directors, speaking at a news conference on the opening day of the 3GSM World Congress Asia in Singapore. The bids had been received “a few days ago,” he said.The goal of the low-cost handset program is to spur adoption of 3G services, especially for data access, by reducing handset costs for subscribers in emerging markets and developed countries. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe Ehrlich, who also serves as a director of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Mobile Communications, declined to comment on specifics of the tenders received. He also declined to discuss the expected cost of the winning 3G handset, but said the group is happy with the tenders it has received. “We’re pleased with the numbers we are seeing,” he said. GSMA, a global trade group composed of mobile operators, announced the contest for a low-cost 3G handset in June, following the success of an earlier program to produce low-cost handsets for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Under that program, which contracted handset production to Motorola, the GSMA issued a tender to produce a US$25 GSM handset.The winning tender for the low-cost 3G handset will be announced in February 2007. The winning handset will be selected by representatives from 12 operators with 620 million subscribers. Further down the road, the GSMA is considering a second contest to produce a low-cost high-speed packet access handset in 2008, Ehrlich said. -Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Singapore Bureau)Related Links: HTC Announces Wi-Fi Smart Phone for T-Mobile Ericsson Trials Biodiesel to Power Mobile Networks Nokia Licenses Trimble Location-Based PatentsCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature The dark arts of digital transformation — and how to master them Sometimes IT leaders need a little magic to push digital initiatives forward. Here are five ways to make transformation obstacles disappear. By Dan Tynan Oct 02, 2023 11 mins Business IT Alignment Business IT Alignment Business IT Alignment feature What is a project management office (PMO)? The key to standardizing project success The ever-increasing pace of change has upped the pressure on companies to deliver new products, services, and capabilities. And they’re relying on PMOs to ensure that work gets done consistently, efficiently, and in line with business objective By Mary K. Pratt Oct 02, 2023 8 mins Digital Transformation Project Management Tools IT Leadership opinion The changing face of cybersecurity threats in 2023 Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game, but the mice keep getting bigger and are becoming increasingly harder to hunt. By Dipti Parmar Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Cybercrime Security brandpost Should finance organizations bank on Generative AI? Finance and banking organizations are looking at generative AI to support employees and customers across a range of text and numerically-based use cases. By Jay Limbasiya, Global AI, Analytics, & Data Management Business Development, Unstructured Data Solutions, Dell Technologies Sep 29, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe