Suntel shortlist narrows to four

Four bidders have been shortlisted to buy Sri Lankan fixed wireless operator Suntel, after the TeliaSonera subsidiary whittled down the original list from seven potential suitors. The remaining hopefuls are reported to be Malaysia Telekom, Sri Lankan blue chip conglomerate John Keells Holdings and two Indian telcos, VSNL and MTNL. MTNL told India’s Economic Times newspaper that it had ‘crossed the first hurdle’ and was appointing a consultant to carry out due diligence on Suntel. Suntel posted provisional net profits of LKR886 million (USD8 million) in 2006 on turnover of LKR7.07 billion (USD64 million).