Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) will bid for a stake in Morocco's Meditel as it looks to expand in the Middle East and Africa, the telecom chairman has said.

Etisalat will also continue to pursue the telecom licence in Iran it was stripped of last week, Mohammed Hassan Omran said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea in Jordan.

'We are looking for opportunities in the Middle East and Africa, especially at this time there are some good assets,' Omran was quoted as saying in our sister publication the Gulf Daily News.

'Assets are becoming cheap ... we see them becoming more cheap in coming months.

'We are expecting (to get) Morocco ... We are participating in the bid for Morocco ... Meditel and we are working hard for Syria and Lebanon,' Omran said.

Portugal Telecom has appointed Morgan Stanley to sell its 32 per cent stake in Meditel, Morocco's second-largest telecoms company, sources said earlier this month.

The telecom operator is facing stiffer competition in its home market of the UAE, where some analysts are predicting there will be more job cuts and a decline in the population, which will weigh on the earnings of Etisalat and rival du.

When asked if Etisalat was likely to be able to match the 4pc rise in profit it achieved in the first quarter, Omran said: 'We are working hard to maintain that and even get it better.'

He said the UAE market was becoming more difficult because expatriates were leaving, but Etisalat expected growth in Saudi Arabia, where its affiliate Etihad Etisalat was doing 'better than expected'.

Etisalat Egypt, the third mobile phone operator to enter the Egyptian market, was also performing 'better than competitors', Omran said. The chairman said the company was not giving up on its lost bid for Iran's third mobile telephone licence. – TradeArabia News Service