REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR SUPPLY OF SATELLITE CAPACITY FOR RURAL MOBILE NETWORK IN BENIN

DUE DATE: COB FRIDAY OCTOBER 18TH, 2013

1.     INTRODUCTION

AMN has a contract with a licensed mobile network operator (the “MNO”) for the construction and operations & maintenance (O&M) of 200 mobile network base stations, all located in rural areas within Benin.

The contract in Benin is the first of 12 similar contracts that AMN will sign for different countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa for a total of approximately 5,000 base stations and total capacity of up to approximately 1Gbps. All base stations will be deployed by December 2017.

This Request For Proposal (RFP), AMN reference RFP1305-2, is for the supply of satellite capacity for a VSAT network for the rural mobile network in Benin.

Version 2 modifies the requirement for the first site to be a point-to-point VSAT link instead of using a 3rd-party VSAT hub.

    2.     PROPOSAL CONDITIONS

Proposers are responsible for their own costs in preparing proposals. AMN accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred by proposers as a result of this RFP.

AMN reserves the right not to make any contract award, or to award part of the work described in this document.

Proposals are due by close of business on Friday October 18th, 2013. Proposals submitted after this date may not be considered in the evaluation. Proposals should be in English and emailed to md@africamobilenetworks.com.

Proposals should quote reference number RFP1305.

Proposals should be valid for 90 days.

     4.     EVALUATION CRITERIA

The successful bidder will be selected on the basis of the lowest compliant bid. Bidders are requested to provide a detailed capability statement to demonstrate their qualifications for the work, and to provide reference examples. Proposals should include:

• Capability Statement
•  Technical Proposal
• Commercial Proposal
• Reference Cases

5.     DELIVERY SCHEDULE

 Where ARO means After Receipt of Order.

The satellite capacity supplied must generally be fit for the purpose of meeting the VSAT connectivity requirements of mobile network communication services in rural areas in Benin, including but not limited to the requirements below.

General Requirements

• Ku-band or Ka-band, with Ka-band preferred. If Ku-band is proposed then details are requested of likely availability of Ka-band capacity in the region and confirmation that AMN will have an option to migrate
• Phase 1 (1 Base Station) requires small carrier of circa 128KHz
  
• Total capacity required for full network of 200 sites is approximately 20MHz, being 7MHz forward (NOC to VSATs) and 13MHz return (VSATs to NOC) excluding guard bands
• An additional 5Mbps of capacity for internet access is optionally required, to be shared between 200 sites, and optionally expandable in increments to 20Mbps
  
• Capacity must support expansion of the network to 43MHz (29MHz forward and 14MHz return)
• Proposer should indicate whether it is able to support the complete West African requirement of AMN on a single satellite, being approximately 150MHz, covering Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and Togo)
• Satellite availability (excluding links) must be >99.999%
• Satellite must support uplink power control
• Proposer should indicate ability to facility the connection of the first site (at month 2 ARO) via an existing teleport in the region on the same satellite.

7.     COMMERCIAL REQUIREMENTS

7.1.                     PRICING REQUIREMENTS

Prices should be broken down as follows:

• Out-route capacity, price per MHz
• In-route capacity, price per MHz
• Any additional sales taxes which apply

7.2.                     PAYMENT REQUIREMENTS

To be invoiced monthly in arrears.