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CAIRO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Telecom Egypt, the statefixed-line monopoly, said on Monday it was considering buyingmore spectrum, weeks after acquiring a fourth-generation (4G)licence that will allow it to directly offer mobile phoneservices for the first time.
"Telecom Egypt has presented a request to the NationalTelecom Regulatory Authority to understand the terms andconditions related to any other spectrum on offer so it can bestudied and evaluated," it said in a statement on the stockexchange website.
Egypt is selling four 4G licences as part of a long-awaitedplan to reform the telecoms sector and raise much-needed dollarsfor depleted government coffers.
It gave its existing four operators priority to acquire 4Glicences, but the only company that took up the offer wasTelecom Egypt, which has long sought a way to offermobile services directly.
Telecom Egypt bought its licence for 7.08 billion Egyptianpounds ($797 million) last month.
The country's three existing mobile phone operators - Orange, Vodafone and Etisalat - all turned down thelicences saying the amount of spectrum on offer was notsufficient to allow them to offer 4G services efficiently.
Egypt's telecom regulator said last week it would consideran international auction of the licences in light of therejections. Kuwait's Zain, China Telecom,Saudi Telecom and Lebara KSA have all expressed interest in Egypt's market.
It was not clear if Telecom Egypt was looking to buy spectrum left available should any of the remaining threelicences find no taker or if it was hoping to secure entirelynew frequencies. (Reporting by Ola Noureldin; Writing Lin Noueihed; Editing byMark Potter)