Tunisia, which hopes to raise up to US$ 1.7 billion from what will be the country's largest privatisation, has called for bidders to officially declare their interest as early as September 12. Vivendi Universal took the lead earlier this week by announcing it planned to submit an offer.

Industry sources close to the privatisation Vivendi Universal will have to beat out other European operators who seek to offset slowing growth in their mature, competitive home markets with growth opportunities in northern Africa. Bouygues Telecom, France's third-largest mobile operator, said it would look at Tunisie Telecom but would not say whether it planned to submit a bid. A number of Middle Eastern providers are also expected to express interest.

A $3.3 billion acquisition of African mobile group Celtel by Kuwait's MTC in March and the successful listing of Maroc Telecom last December have focused attention on growth opportunities in Africa – as well as the wealth of Arab investors benefiting from high oil prices.

With about 4.2 million mobile and fixed-line subscribers, Tunisie Telecom has become the country's largest company in terms of revenue and profit and expects strong growth to continue. The company generated sales of more than 1 billion dinars (US$ 3.9 million) in 2004, up 23% from 2003.

Tunisie Telecom competes against Tunisiana and Orascom Telecom in the mobile market and plans to increase investment this year, partly to upgrade its fixed-line network with broadband Internet.

Source: Reuters - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News