Trio go through to final round of TT bidding

Three companies have qualified for the third and final round of bidding for a 35% stake in Tunisie Telecom (TT). The chosen trio are France Telecom, Vivendi Universal and Tecom; the latter is owned by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), which also owns the UAE’s second national operator du. According to local news reports France Telecom is leading the bidding with an offer of USD1.88 billion, closely followed by Vivendi (USD1.8 billion) and Tecom (USD1.75 billion). MTN, Etisalat and an unnamed consortium between Saudi Oger and Telecom Italia all submitted much lower bids and are no longer involved in the process.