Alcatel NV has bought a $160m contract for 22 digital telephone exchanges for Buenos Aires, Argentina, 55% financed by the French government with a 13-year loan at 8% with a four-year grace period up-front, inviting the ire of Siemens, reports the Financial Times: Siemens complains that the contract was not put out to international tender, and that the Argentine market can’t support a third player alongside itself and NEC Corp.