THE Nigerian government Tuesday announced the names of 16 prospective bidders for a majority stake in its state-run telecoms company, Nitel, drawing an instant denial from France Telecom. The government privatisation agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), in a formal statement given to reporters, named France Telecom and firms from Egypt, Korea, Malaysia and the Netherlands among the 16 firms it said had indicated interest. France Telecom, Korea Telekom, Telekom Malaysia, Orascom of Egypt and MSI of the Netherlands are among the interested bidders, Nasir el-Rufai, head of the BPE said, announcing the list. But, in Paris, France Telecom denied it was among the prospective bidders, saying it was not at all interested in the Nitel privatisation. Nitel, which has for years been the sole national telecommunications carrier in the country, has around 700_000 lines across Nigeria but only just over 400_000 lines are operational at any one time. For the first time, Nitel is expected from August to face real competition with the launch of GSM mobile telecommunications, led by South African operator MTN. – AFP
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