Motorola wins $335 million Saudi contract

RIYADH (Reuters) - Motorola Inc said on Sunday it won a $335 million contract with Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy and manage a mobile phone network.

Zain plans to start operations this year after it paid $6.1 billion for Saudi Arabia's third mobile license. The contract with Motorola is for second- and third-generation networks, the two companies said at a press conference.

"Motorola is a partner of Zain in many countries, not just in Saudi Arabia," said Marwan al-Ahmadi, Chief Executive of Zain Saudi Arabia.

Also known as Mobile Telecommunications Co., Kuwait's Zain is leading the Zain Saudi Arabia consortium, which plans to begin operations this year. Zain operates in over 20 countries in Africa and in the Middle East.

Zain Saudi Arabia gave Nokia Siemens Networks a $935 million order in January for a mobile network.

Ericsson and China's Huawei Technologies were competing for the two contracts, Ahmadi said.

The two contracts will provide Zain Saudi Arabia with a network capable of managing up to 8 million mobile phone users, Ahmadi said.

(Reporting by Souhail Karam, Editing by Erica Billingham)