Qatar said 12 firms and consortia, including Vodafone, AT&T and Verizon Communications, had been prequalifed to bid for a second mobile phone licence.

Other prequalifed firms include Arab operators Mobile Telecommunications Co (MTC) of Kuwait, Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat), Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco), Egypt's Orascom Telecom and Jordan Telecom Group.

A consortium including Belgacom and Oman Telecommunications is also eligible to bid, as is India's Reliance Communications. Reuters