Telecom Italia, Telecom Egypt to jointly bid for mobile license

Telecom Italia will join state-controlled Telecom Egypt to bid for Egypt's third mobile telecom license, a Dow Jones report said.

A Telecom Egypt statement said the parties agreed that Telecom Egypt would own a majority stake in the consortium, according to the report.

The government sale of a third mobile license would allow a new entrant into an Egyptian market dominated by MobiNil, owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom, and Vodafone Group, the report said.

Egypt's telecom regulator last month said it expected a minimum of 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($433.8 million) to be offered in the tender, the report further said.

The report said Telecom Italia cooperated with Telecom Egypt in 2004 when it agreed to a deal that enabled the Egyptian company to offer Internet protocol services to its clients.