The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy will announce the companies that have won the tender to supply 250,000 smart meters by the end of January 2017, reported Daily News Egypt.

Member of the Electricity Companies’ Distribution Affairs Department at the Ministry of Electricity, El Husseiny El Far, stated that the ministry opened the financial envelopes of seven companies and is negotiating the offers. The winning companies and their supply portions will be announced by the end of January 2017.

El Far added that the tender aims to execute a project to install 250,000 smart meters across six distribution companies. This includes 50,000 meters for North and South Cairo Electricity Distribution companies and Canal Company for Electricity Distribution, and 25,000 meters to each of Middle Egypt Electricity Distribution Company, South Delta Electricity Distribution Company, and Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company.

The companies that made bids in the tender include ZTE, Huawei, Ericsson, El Sewedy Electric, IEU, and Gamma.

The Ministry of Electricity consulted a subsidiary of the National Service Products Organization (NASPO) in regard to the tender, rehabilitate the companies, and award the winning.