Egypt says expects more interest in phone licence

CAIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - Egypt expects two more companies to show interest in acquiring its second fixed-line licence, scheduled for bidding in June, Egypt's telecommunications regulator said on Wednesday.

"Based on our market studies we expect the number of interested companies to increase to eight companies," Amr Badawy, chairman of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) told a news conference.

By Wednesday six companies, including France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Orascom Telecom ORTE.CA(ORTEq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Egypt's Alkan, Egypt's Giza Systems, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat ETEL.AD, and the Atheeb group of Saudi Arabia had bought the booklet of conditions for the sale of the licence.

Badawy said the door would stay open for other companies interested in competing till the last day -- June 19.

"We want to have more offers and more competition. This is good for us," he added.

The NTRA set the June 19 deadline in February, bringing Egypt one step closer to ending the monopoly of state-run Telecom Egypt ETEL.CA (ETELq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), currently the country's sole fixed-line operator.

Competing companies should have a base of at least 500,000 subscribers and minimum revenues of $500 million a year, according to the NTRA.

Badawy said having local partners is not a condition for applying but it would be an advantage.

"Past experience in the market will boost chances for success and will be considered in evaluating the offers," he added. (Reporting by Wael Gamal)