Ooredoo Qatar, formerly Qtel, has yet to decide whether it will buy the Moroccan government's stake in Maroc Telecom if the Qatari company wins the bid for Vivendi's stake in the North African operator.
Vivendi had yet to tell Ooredoo whether its bid for the Maroc Telecom stake had been successful, said Nasser Marafih, the group chief executive of Ooredoo, in an interview in Jordan.
Asked if Ooredoo would consider taking the Moroccan government's stake in Maroc Telecom, he said: "That's something we have to make a decision on with the government."
Both Etisalat and Ooredoo submitted bids for Vivendi's share of the operator last month. The official bids have not been made public, but analyst estimates suggested a price around the US$4 billion to $5bn mark. The stake is worth some $6bn at market price.
The Moroccan government has to sign off any new owner as it holds a 30 per cent blocking stake in the Moroccan operator.
"We are waiting on an answer for Vivendi," he said. "We have submitted our bid and Vivendi is going through it."
The two operators are the only bidders for the Maroc stake after reports that STC, Vodafone and Korea Telecom had expressed an interest. Maroc Telecom, which is listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, has a market capitalisation of $11.25bn.
The French conglomerate Vivendi is selling several assets in an attempt to pay down debt, boost a flagging share price and reduce the group's exposure to the telecoms business.
