The three — France Telecom, the UAE's Etisalat and Turkcell — were unhappy with some of the license requirements, Syria's Telecoms Ministry said, including a 25 percent tax on revenue and a state monopoly over infrastructure for seven years.
All three pulled out last week.
"Ultimately it comes down to cost, but STC and Qtel both have experience of working in similar markets and Syria offers one of the few interesting opportunities in the region for a completely green field operation," said Martin Mabbutt, Nomura telecoms analyst.
"Syria can afford to set the bar fairly high and it still has two bidders."
The country's mobile penetration was 33 percent in 2009, according to data from the International Telecommunications Union, against an average of 62 percent in Arab states as a whole.
"Qtel confirms that it has submitted both the financial and technical bids for the third license in Syria," Qtel wrote in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.
On Saturday, STC said it had submitted an offer for the Syria license.
Syria's two existing mobile phone operators are South Africa's MTN and Syriatel, which is mostly owned by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf.
"Syria currently has a pretty even duopoly between Syriatel and MTN," said Mabbutt.
MTN has a build, operate and transfer license, under which it has constructed a local network the Syria government owns, deterring MTN from investing heavily in the country, Mabbutt said. The license terms will soon be amended to enable MTN to become a full commercial operator ahead of the third license launch, he added.
