Orascom has no comment on French UMTS licence bid; candidates announced tonight |
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Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:29
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PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Egyptian mobile phone operator Orascom said it has no comment on a report it was interested in the fourth licence for operating a UMTS network in France, for which applications closed today.'The company has no comment on this,' investors relations spokesman Hatim El Gammal told Thomson Financial News.Separately, French telecoms regulator Arcep said it will announce the list of applicants tonight from 5.30 pm onwards.Les Echos today cited unnamed sources as saying Orascom, a unit of investment group Weather Investments had held talks with French cable operator Numericable about a joint bid, but that these were aborted.Iliad SA last night confirmed it applied to Arcep for the licence. Les Echos said Orascom has held talks with the French ISP in the past and might approach it again.Numericable has recently announced a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) deal with Bouygues SA's Bouygues Telecom, and analysts believe that Iliad may be the only bidder for the 619 mln eur licences.The holders of the three existing licences, Bouygues Telecom, France Telecom's Orange and Vivendi and Vodafone affilate SFR, are thought likely to object if Arcep accepts Iliad's requests for conditions, including paying the fee in instalments.tfn.paris@thomson.commrg/cmrCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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Egypt's Orascom interested in 4th French UMTS licence - report 