The Egyptian government has blocked state-owned Telecom Egypt’s efforts to acquire two technology units from Orascom Telecom.
Orascom is thought to want to divest the units as part of its strategy to focus on its GSM business. The communications minister has instead indicated that he hopes to see bids for the two companies from the private sector, although he did not highlight any potential bidders.
Telegeography reports that the government believes the acquisition would be anti-competitive.
Egypt’s communications minister, Tarek Kamel said, “We will not allow it because it [TE] will be too dominant in the market. It would exceed 90% of the capacity and I would be hesitant to allow that.”
ITNewsAfrica.com
