France Telecom is not, for now, considering a bid for assets of Kuwaiti telecom company Zain, the head of the French group told reporters on Sunday.
"This is not on the agenda for now," Chief Executive Didier Lombard said in response to a question by news agency Reuters on whether France Telecom was considering bidding for some of Zain's businesses should the Kuwaiti group put them up for sale.
Media reports in recent weeks have suggested Zain was looking to sell its African operations after receiving several offers, including one from Vivendi.
Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy declined to comment on the issue on Saturday.
Zain, whose biggest shareholder is Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, has spent heavily to expand and operates in 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
It has spent more than $12 billion in Africa since 2005, including nearly $3 billion in Nigeria, and said it planned to spend up to $2 billion more on the continent this year.
African media, however, have reported in recent weeks that Zain was looking to sell its African business and would study bids made by other companies if no deal was reached with Vivendi.
Lombard, who was speaking on the sidelines of an economic forum in southern France, also confirmed France Telecom would use the $2.5 billion it recently raised on the debt market to refinance its debt, and not to make a large-scale acquisition.
Asked if the group was interested in buying the T-Mobile UK division of Deutsche Telekom, Lombard said: "We have not made an offer." He made no further comment on the issue.
Regarding France Telecom's strategy to expand in emerging countries, Lombard said the group was "buying country by country and (mobile phone) licence by licence," but he declined to say which countries in particular the group was looking at.
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