Digicel Limited from Ireland, Entel PCS Telecomunicacions from Chile and Millicom International from Luxembrug, submitted association proposals to Colombia Móvil (OLA), the cellular company controlled in equal parts by the Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá (ETB) and Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM). Finally, América Móvil will not take part in the process as well as the companies Cable & Wireless from United Kingdom, Swedtel from Sweden, and the four investment banks that had been invited to take part as OLA's partners. Next Friday, ETB and EPM's technical advisers will announce whether the second phase of the process continues, or is stopped. In case of continuing, the companies interested should make precise proposals  for OLA, since in the first phase the interest was non-binding.

Among the candidates, Digitel's interest was surprising, since it was not formally invited to the process. The Irish operator acts in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands and Trinidad and Tobago) where it has already invested US$ 1,000 million. The other companies interested are the Chilean Entel PCS, that in the first quarter of the year recorded incomes for US$ 380 million (6.5% more than in March 2005), in its operations of Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Central America, and Millicom that operates in 21 countries and has a license to offer mobile services to more than 580 million users in the world.