Six consortia have returned bids for the Turkish armed forces integrated communications system (TAFICS). The $300 million project is being handled by the state Turk Telekomunikasyon (Turk Telekom).

The six ventures of foreign and local partners are:

France's Alcatel with Teletas, Dogan and Iska Kablo the US' Aydin Group with Aydin Yazili, Oztas, and Ozgun Kablo Canada's Northern Telecom and Germany's ANT with Netas, Erko and Telerko the Netherlands Philips, Canada's Canac with STFA Enerkom;

Germany's Siemens with Turk Siemens, Simko and Maktas the Starkon Group, which includes the UK's Marconi and Italy's Page Europa with Alarko and Alsim.

The long-awaited project calls for the installation of a communications system using fibre optics for the military, which will also have civilian uses.