Egypt-based Orascom Telecom (OT) has ruled itself out of bidding for France's fourth 3G license. "It was announced today in our analyst day that OT/Weather will not be bidding," Reuters yesterday cited a company spokeswoman as stating in an email. No reason was given.
The decision marks a turnaround for the operator following comments from chairman Naguib Sawiris this summer that it was prepared to partner with a candidate for the license. Only last week reports suggested the operator wanted to buy into the Numericable-Virgin Mobile consortium that is chasing the license.
To date only Iliad, France's second-biggest broadband provider, has said publicly it intends to bid for the license. In August the bidding process for France's long-awaited fourth 3G license was launched by the country's government, with an asking price of EUR240 million. The deadline for candidates to lodge their bids has been fixed at 29 October, with the granting of the license around eight months from that date.
No comments:
Post a Comment