Tecom wins auction of Tunisie Telecom

The Dubai-based telecommunications provider Tecom, which is behind the Lm110 million Smart City project in Malta, has outbid Vivendi Universal SA for a 35-percent stake in Tunisia's public phone operator, Tunisie Telecom.

State-controlled Tunisie Telecom serves 1.2 million fixed-line customers and 2.5 million mobile phone users.

In the final round of a government auction on Wednesday, Tecom offered €1.89 billion against Vivendi's €1.71 billion to clinch the purchase.

The Tunisian government is expected to confirm the sale after receiving formal approval from a government commission.

Vivendi holds a majority stake in Morocco's Maroc Telecom.

Meanwhile, the privatisation committee in Malta is known to be in its final stages of evaluating bids for the sale of government shares in Maltacom and its report to the government is imminent, sources said.

Tecom and Ararco of Saudi Arabia are the two bidders for the government's 60 per cent stake in the company.

The government had made it clear that it wants to get the right price for its shares in Maltacom as well as having a strategic partner that would take Malta's telecommunications company and the telecommunications sector forward.

The government wants to put Malta on the map as far as information technology is concerned and whoever buys Maltacom will have to guarantee growth in cutting edge technology to enable the ICT sector to expand.

Both Ararco and Tecom are promising to make a substantial investment in Maltacom. The privatisation unit has commissioned the world's leading consultants, Gartner and Analysys, to evaluate the submissions received.

The privatisation process started in March 2004, when the government declared it was seeking a strategic partner for the company "with the characteristics needed to lead this organisation into the future and to serve as a catalyst for the growth of Information and Communications Technologies in Malta".

The bidders presented their final offers in January.