Orascom Telecom says not paying fines on FT deal

CAIRO (Reuters) - Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA: Quote, Profile, Research)(ORTEq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, said on Sunday it was not paying any fines over a delay in a transaction with France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

France Telecom said on Thursday that Orascom should be paying $50,000 per day in penalties, accusing the Egyptian firm of missing an April 10 court-ordered deadline to sell its shares in Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil (EMOB.CA: Quote, Profile, Research) to France Telecom.

"We are not paying any fines because we tried to make the deal go through," an Orascom Telecom spokesman said.

Orascom said on Thursday the deal had not gone through because the French company had not sent payment. Orascom said it had complied with the deadline.

Orascom has said it could gain $1.7 billion from selling its stake in Mobinil, which it would use on acquisitions, including possibly of Moroccan mobile firm Meditel.

The court ruled that Orascom must sell its stake in a holding company that owns 51 percent of Mobinil. Egypt's market regulator says if France Telecom purchases the holding company from Orascom, it must also tender for the other 49 percent of the company that is freely floated. Orascom owns 20 percent of those freely-floated shares.

(Writing by Will Rasmussen; editing by Mike Nesbit)