The bids submitted by a consortium of TierOne and LCS Group of Companies called Sear Telecommunications, and another by Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp were disqualified because they were incomplete, the committee said.

Officials at Sear Telecommunications and PT&T said they would appeal the committee's decision.

The qualifying consortium passed the first stage of the bidding and includes China Telecom and two firms owned by Davao City businessman Dennis Uy - Udenna Corporation, a holding company, and Chelsea Logistics Holdings, one of its units.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty and Muralikumar Anantharaman)