United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecoms firm Etisalat has officially confirmed its interest in acquiring a 53% stake in Morocco's biggest telco, Maroc Telecom.

Multinational media group Vivendi is selling its majority share in Maroc Telecom, with companies such as Qatar’s Qtel, Saudi Arabia’s STC and South Africa’s MTN having been named as possible bidders in reports.

Etisalat has also previously been named among possible bidders for this stake by Reuters. And the UAE company has confirmed its preliminary expression of interest to acquire Vivendi’s 53% stake.

“Etisalat’s interest in Maroc Telecom is consistent with our stated strategy of selective expansion in our core MENA markets and would complement our existing operations in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Etisalat said in a statement.

Maroc Telecom is the North African country’s biggest telecommunications operator, as the firm has a 47.5% and 44% share respectively of the country’s mobile phone services and high-speed internet markets. Earlier this year, Maroc reported it had 17 million domestic mobile customers. The company also has international operations in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Mauritania.

Etisalat’s other active African markets include Nigeria and Egypt.