France Telecom is making headway in its expansion plans in Iraq and Cambodia, while Algeria is a market of interest, CEO Stephane Richard told reporters yesterday.
He said that negotiations around a stake in Iraq’s Korek Telecom are advancing, with the…
France Telecom is making headway in its expansion plans in Iraq and Cambodia, while Algeria is a market of interest, CEO Stephane Richard told reporters yesterday.
He said that negotiations around a stake in Iraq’s Korek Telecom are advancing, with the possibility that the company may work with an existing “financial partner” active in the logistics space. TelecomFinance reported last month that South Africa’s MTN is the second suitor for Korek, but France Telecom has reportedly been named the preferred bidder.
Though he declined to specify the name of this partner, Bloomberg notes that in 2007 the French incumbent bought into Telkom Kenya alongside Alcazar Capital, a UAE private equity firm that used to be part of current Korek owner Agility Logistics in 2009. The newswire added that Alcazar made Korek a US$250m convertible loan in 2007.
Richard added that the French incumbent is keeping a close eye on the Algerian market, which could be entered via Orascom-owned Djezzy or other unspecified means.
Djezzy is currently at the centre of a controversy, with the Algerian government claiming Orascom owed it over US$800m in back taxes and fines. As such, the state is threatening to take over the unit, either on its own or with a foreign partner.
Answering a question about France Telecom’s bid to buy a minority stake in Cambodian cellco Mobitel, Richard said that process was “less advanced” than that of Korek.
Mobitel, whose parent company is Cambodian mobile operator CamGSM, has already attracted the interest of at least one other bidder: Indonesian incumbent PT Telkom. In early December, it was reported that PT Telkom was planning to acquire a majority stake in CamGSM for about US$500m.
France Telecom, which is already present in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Bahrain and Egypt, has indicated it plans to spend up to E7bn on expansion into emerging-markets between now and 2015.
