AT&T looking for stake in Telekom Malaysia International

Telecom major AT&T, the USA's biggest phone company, wants to buy an unspecified stake in the mobile arm of state-controlled telephone firm Telekom Malaysia, a Malaysian newspaper has reported on Wednesday 2 January.

Telekom Malaysia is spinning off its mobile business into a separate firm, TM International, which will include its domestic Celcom unit and operations in nine other countries, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

India's Spice Telecom is 40.80 per cent owned by Modi Wellvest, while Telekom Malaysia owns 39.20 per cent. The rest of the shares are widely held.

However, in a statement, the company refused to either confirm or deny the news. "Telekom Malaysia wishes to inform that it does not comment on any news that is speculative in nature," the statement said.

AT&T is among the frontrunners to form a partnership with TM International as the US firm has a presence in Vietnam, a market that Telekom has been eager to enter. Earlier reports in November, that Vodafone was looking to buy a 25 per cent stake in TM International, were also dismissed by the company as speculative.