EIGHT consortia met the Monday noon deadline for bids for the coveted third cellular phone licence. The bidders are: Telenor/Telia Consortium, NextCom Cellular, Afrozone Telecomms, Five Mobile Networks, Africa Speaks, Spatial Cellular, Cell C and Khuluma 084 Cellular. A ninth bidder, Zintatu, failed to meet the 12 noon deadline to deliver 25 copies of their bid to Satra’s offices. They provided only one bound volume and did not lodge their R75000 application Khuluma Cellular 084, chaired by former Eastern Cape director general Thozamile Botha, announced on Monday afternoon that it has merged with NextCell and the National Telecommunications Consortium for its bid and had formed a partnership with the international MSI Cellular and Telecel — with no single member of the consortium holding more than 5% of the shareholding.