Bidders for a stake in Maroc Telecom must:

Operate or have a subsidiary operating a fixed line network with more than 1 million subscribers Operate or have a subsidiary operating a mobile phone network with more than 750,000 subscribers Have capital of more than $1bn or a stock market capitalisation of more than $10bn Not own, directly or indirectly, any shares in Morocco's private mobile phone operator

It said net profit had risen 48% to 1.26bn dirhams in the first half of 2000 on turnover of 5.42bn dirhams.

The fastest growth was in mobile phone subscriptions, which the company said had increased by a further one third to 1.6 million between the end of June and the end of August this year alone.

The number of fixed line subscribers stood at 1.4 million.

Not eligible

Maroc Telecom holds one of Morocco's two GSM mobile licences. The other was awarded in 1999 to a consortium led by Spain's Telefonica.

Under the terms of the privatisation tender, members of this consortium will not be eligible to bid for the Maroc Telecom stake.

Maroc Telecom has been advised on the strategic stake sale by a team led by US investment bank JP Morgan.

The sale is planned to be followed by a public offering of shares.

Officials have said the government intends to keep a 51% stake in the company and float the remaining 14-24% on local and foreign stock markets.