FRANCE Telecom has become the majority shareholder in Egypt’s largest mobile telephone company, MobiNil, after buying $252m in shares from the US firm Motorola, the French firm said. Following the transaction, France Telecom increased its stake in MobiNil, or the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, from 46.1% to 71.25%. Cairo-based Orascom Telecom, which has bought mobile phone licenses in more than a dozen Arab and African countries, bought the remainder of Motorola’s shares, increasing its stake in MobiNil from 18.6% to 28.75%. France Telecom plans this year a stock listing of all its mobile operations under the name of New Orange after buying the British group Orange, and wants to be in a strong position in the mobile market before that happens, experts from the sector explained. – AFP