Bouygues Says No Plans to Sell Telecoms Division

­France's Bouygues Group has said that it has no plans to sell its telecoms division. The company was responding to reports earlier today that Egypt's Orascom Telecom  had expressed an interest in merging with the company.

In an interview with French business newspaper, La Tribune, Orascom's Naguib Sawiris said that he is looking at a possible merger with another medium sized operator. The company has also previously been named as a possible suitor for Telekom Austria Group.

"We are not in talks with Bouygues about Bouygues Telecom. We would be interested if they had the intention to sell," he told the paper.

Only last month, Orascom Telecom decided not to bid for France's fourth 3G license. The company had previously indicated that it might join a consortium with other French companies for the license.

Posted to the site on 26th November 2009