DUBAI: United Arab Emirates telecom firm Etisalat is looking to sell a part of its stake in the consortium that won Egypt s third mobile phone license, a UAE newspaper reported on Tuesday. Etisalat, or Emirates Telecommunications Corp, has a 66 percent stake in the consortium that paid LE 16.7 billion for the license; almost 20 percent above the second highest offer. The Al Khaleej newspaper quoted Jamal Al-Jarwan, Etisalat s general manager for international business, as saying the firm was looking to sell around 15 percent in the consortium to a foreign player and was already considering applications from several companies. Jarwan told the newspaper in an interview that Etisalat intended to retain 51 percent of the consortium. Etisalat officials were not in a position to comment immediately on the report. Etisalat is expanding aggressively abroad, sometimes paying a premium to enter a foreign market. Etisalat could theoretically have acquired MobiNil, an established player in the Egyptian market, at a discount of 7 percent to the price it paid for the license, Dubai-based Shuaa Capital said. Reuters
