MTN Confirms No Longer In Running For Tunisie Telecom

South Africa's MTN Group, Thursday confirmed it is no longer in the running for the auction of a 35% stake in Tunisian telecommunications operator Tunisie Telecom.

"The MTN Group can confirm that it did submit a bid for a 35% stake in Tunisie Telecom," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "Three bidders qualified for the second and final round of bidding and MTN was not one of these."

Earlier, people familiar with the matter said France Telecom, Vivendi Universal and Dubai's Tecom have made it through to the next round.

-By Angus Macmillan and Taska Manzaroli; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 30 2888 410; taska.manzaroli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 16th March 2006