Qatari phone carrier Ooredoo QSC announced yesterday it has made preliminary talks on acquiring shares in Türk Telekom, yet it said no concrete progress has been made so far.

In late November, Ooredo was reported to bid for the insolvent owner of Turkey's biggest telecommunications company to rival an offer from Saudi Telecom Co., which was also reported to be in the race to buy the stake in Türk Telekom, sources said.

Ooredo said it will seek to acquire Ojer Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., a subsidiary of Oger Telecom Inc. (Otaş), a special purpose vehicle that owns 55 percent of Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş.

A purchase by Ooredoo would extend the Doha-based company's record of expanding to serve about 150 million customers from Algeria to Myanmar, largely through acquisitions.

In Turkey's largest syndicated loan default, Otaş missed three payments since September 2016 on $4.75 billion it borrowed from 29 local and international banks in 2013. Creditors include Akbank, Türkiye Garanti Bankası, and Türkiye İş Bankası A.Ş. Akbank is owed about $1.5 billion under the facility, Garanti Bankasi around $1 billion and İş Bankası about $500 million, according to public filings.