MILAN, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia SpA could be interested in a
tie-up with South African mobile phone operator MTN Group Ltd., Corriere della
Sera newspaper reported on Tuesday.
MTN, Africa's biggest mobile carrier, could open up a growing market for
Telecom Italia, the newspaper said, citing "certain rumours".
A Telecom Italia spokesman was not immediately available to comment. An MTN
spokesman said the company did not comment on speculation.
Africa could serve as an alternative to Brazil for Telecom Italia, Corriere
della Sera said. The company's TIM Brasil
broke down this year.
MTN has a market value of $27.6 billion, according to Reuters data.
Shares in Telecom Italia, Europe's fifth-biggest phone company with a market
capitalisation of around $28 billion, were down 1.74 percent at 1.074 euros at
0927 GMT. The DJ Stoxx telecoms gauge was 1.31 percent lower.
Telecom Italia "is a strange suitor for MTN coming from Europe", said Dobek
Pater, a Johannesburg-based telecoms analyst.
"Telecom Italia will be a winner if they are planning to expand into Africa
and Middle East."
Pater added MTN, which is rolling out its fibre optic cable in South Africa,
could benefit from Telecom Italia's fixed-line expertise.
Shares in MTN traded 1.86 percent down at 116 rand by 0924 GMT. The drop was
in line with the JSE Top-40 index which was down 1.99 percent.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Milan and Gugu Lourie in Johannesburg; editing
by Quentin Bryar and Andy Bruce)
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com
jlw
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