South Korea’s KT has dropped its interest in Tunisie Telecom (TT) having previously wanted the 35 per cent stake up for grabs in the North African operator, said Reuters.

The Korean operator gave no reason for its change of heart over the stake in the country’s second-largest operator.

Last autumn KT confirmed an interest in Tunisie Telecom, although this was only in the preliminary stage of talks.

Clearly the operator has subsequently changed its mind, not for the first time in this region. KT withdrew from the bidding to take control of Maroc Telecom because it thought the 53 per cent stake was overpriced.

The TT stake is currently owned by Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT), an arm of Dubai Holding, which is seeking to reduce debt. EIT bought the stake in TT for $2.25 billion in 2006.

However, even if KT is not interested in the Tunisian operator, plenty of others are willing to step forward (or at least they were at the preliminary stage of talks). There were thought to be approximately ten other bidders interested in the stake, including Etisalat and Turkcell.

Tunisie Telecom had 4.36 million connections at end-Q4 2013, according to GSMA Intelligence figures.