CANBERRA: Telstra Corp Ltd said it was in talks to buy the Pacific operations of telecom company Digicel Group after the Australian government said it would finance the bulk of its bid.

       Digicel – the Pacific’s largest mobile phone carrier – has become a focus in Australia amid speculation the telecom could be purchased by a Chinese state-owned company.

       Digicel, founded by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, has a dominant market share in neighbouring Papua New Guinea and will use the new Coral Sea submarine cable from Sydney that was constructed with funding from the Australian government to expand data services there.

       “The Australian government is trying to achieve a few things at once. Digicel is the primary player in the Pacific and Australia sees it as strategic asset,” said Jonathan Pryke, director, Pacific Islands programme at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank.

       “They are keen to get Australian business back into the Pacific and they’ve come to the realisation that they are going to have to underwrite.”

       Telstra said it was approached by the Australian government to partner in the bid for Digicel, with the government funding a large majority of the bid for Digicel.

       It did not reveal details, but Australian media reported the deal would be worth about A$2bil (US$1.5bil or RM6.32bil) with the Australian government paying around A$1.5bil (US$1.11bil or RM4.68bil). — Reuters