France Telecom confirms interest in Orange

France Telecom has confirmed it is interested in buying Orange following the decision yesterday from the European Commission that Vodafone must sell the British mobile operator as part of its acquisition of Mannesmann.

The EU gave the hostile takeover a conditional green light providing Vodafone relinquishes Orange - which was bought by Mannesmann last year.

A France Telecom spokeswoman said: "We have always been interested in Orange and even more so following the announcement by the European Commission. We are studying carefully when the sale will be made public but we do not know how and when this will be."

However, she was unable to speculate on suggestions that France Telecom's interest in the mobile operator depended on its success in bidding for a UMTS licence in the UK. The French operator already owns a large stake in NTL, another participant in the third generation auction process.