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Apr. 2, 2007

The GSA (General Services Administration) in the United States has selected AT&T, Qwest and Verizon for the largest-ever federal telecommunications contract.

The deal is valued at about $20 billion over the next 10 years, with some estimates putting the figure as high as $48 billion.

The contract is called Networx Universal and is to overhaul the government's telecommunications services, including voice, Internet, wireless and video services for 135 federal agencies, both domestically and internationally.

However, the three winning companies will still have to compete for individual contracts within the government agencies, but with the GSA's stamp of approval nevertheless.

The decision comes as a blow to Sprint Nextel, who also bid for the contract last month.

Nextel said in a statement that it was disappointed, and that it would request a meeting with the FCC next week.

However, all hope isn't lost for the odd man out, at least not yet.

Overall, Sprint Nextel is still vying for a large federal contract, known as Networx Enterprise, that the GSA will award in May.

Sprint did say in a statement that it was confident it would win that contract.

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Source: Wireless Week