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"BT has its own calendar," Richard said,
speaking at a conference on France's economy and business
climate. "You should know more a few days before Christmas."
EE's owners Orange and Deutsche Telekom, confirmed last month
that they were in talks with BT about a possible sale while BT
is also talking to Spanish group Telefonica about buying its UK
mobile business, O2.
JAZZTEL
Richard also said on Thursday he was confident of a favorable
outcome to the review by competition regulators of Orange's 3.4
billion-euro ($4.2 billion) deal to acquire Spanish broadband
provider Jazztel, even though it faces an in-depth review in
Brussels.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday
that EU antitrust regulators were likely to expand their
scrutiny of the deal, stepping up pressure on the companies to
make concessions.
One source said the Commission was likely to announce the
opening of an in-depth investigation on Thursday and also reject
a request from the Spanish competition authority to handle the
case.
Richard said he had been "surprised" by the decision, noting
that the 7.2 billion-euro purchase of Spain's Ono by Vodafone in
March had been cleared without an in-depth probe. But he said he
thought it unlikely the commission would set terms tough enough
to derail his proposed deal.
(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic; Writing by Leila Abboud and
Andrew Callus; Editing by Natalie Huet, Greg Mahlich)
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