ZTE sets sights on majority stake in Sonitel

Mainland China Outbidding rival France Telecome, ZTE Corp. made the highest offer for a majority stake in Niger s state telecoms company, Sonitel.According to the national commission at the ministry charged with analyzing the offers, ZTE bid $16.1 million while a consortium made up of France Telecom and Senegal s Sonatel offered $8.

7 million. Niger relaunched the privatization procedure for Sonitel in September, nine months after a previous sale fell through when it failed to attract bids. Privatization minister Trapside Fatima said Niger would keep 34 percent after the privatization.The landlocked former French colony, the biggest country in West Africa, has a population of 10 million.

Sonitel s fixed-line network capacity is 25,000 lines. Niger said last year it wanted to boost that number to 77,000 by 2010. Sonitel is currently 98 percent owned by the state and employs 1,300 people.Earlier this year, ZTE won a tender to convert Sonitel s mobile arm to the GSM standard, making it the third mobile operator with a GSM license along with Telecel and Celtel.

ZTE is looking to take a 51 percent stake in both Sonitel and its mobile arm, Sahel Com, through reserved capital increases.