Algeria officially opened bidding for operators on Thursday for the country's first third generation (3G) mobile license after months of wrangling. The winner will be announced in late October and the license will be commercially operational for the first quarter of next year, the state telecom regulator ARPT said in a statement. According to recent reports from inside the country, Kuwait's National Mobile Telecommunications company, which already runs the second largest mobile network in the country, is likely to beat out rivals in the bidding. Also ready to make bids are Mobilis, the state-run operator of Algeria Telecom, and Egypt's Orascom Telecom's Djezzy unit. However, the likelihood of Orascom winning the bid are slim, considering the company's entanglements in the country with the government over back taxes, leaving investor confidence at an all-time low. The dispute has forced Orascom to look to off-load the unit to the Algerian government and sources close to the company say it will likely not bid on the new 3G license. BM