will break the monopoly of Saudi Telecom Company in the middle east's largest telecom market.

"The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has received applications from 10 consortia in response to the request forms issued on October 24, 2006," a CITC statement said.

Saudi Telecom has about four million fixed line customers in the country with a population of nearly 27 million.

"During the coming weeks, STC will study and evaluate the applications, based on the criteria specified in the request for applications (RFA)," Sultan Al Malik, a spokesman of the commission, told Arab News.

The 10 consortia include Al Shola (MTNL India), Khaled Ahmed Al Juffali Co (WorldCall Telecom of Pakistan), Makkah Telecom (China Telecom), and Bayanat (Korea Telecom).