Maroc Telecom shortlisted for SOTELMA bidding

Moroccan incumbent Maroc Telecom has been shortlisted to buy 51% of Mali’s state-owned Telecommunication Company, SOTELMA, PANA is reporting; no details of the other shortlisted companies were revealed. Previous reports had indicated 18 companies had been approved to bid for the Malian national operator, with interested operators rumoured to include MTN, Vodafone, Zain and Saudi Telecom. Those companies who have been shortlisted will now be invited to submit tenders to the Mali government; no deadline has been announced for the bids. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, the privatisation process will see a 51% stake sold to a strategic investor, and SOTELMA has confirmed that 10% and 19% stakes will be reserved for employees and investors (institutional and public) respectively.