In its move to expand to markets outside India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has submitted a bid to acquire Sri Lankan telecom firm Tigo (Private) Limited (formerly, Celltel Lanka Ltd), a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based telecom operator Millicom International Cellular SA.

Kuldeep Goyal,  chairman of the state-run telecom major, confirmed to mediamen yesterday that BSNL has made a bid for Millicom. However, he declined to elaborate on the matter.

Millicom, controlled by Sweden's Kinnevik Investment AB, provides prepaid wireless services in emerging markets. It has mobile phone operations in 16 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa and cable and Internet businesses in Central America. The Group's mobile operations have a combined population under license of approximately 308 million people.

The company is selling its assets in Asia, including units in Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Millicom expects to complete the deals by the first quarter of 2010.

Earlier on Monday, the UAE's Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi stock exchange that it had bid for the Sri Lankan assets.

There were earlier reports that Bharti Airtel, which recently launched its mobile operations in Sri Lanka, was also looking at the Millicom unit.

BSNL, India's fourth-largest mobile operator and the second-largest telecoms firm including fixed-line subscribers, is sitting on a cash pile of over $6 billion.

Celltel is Sri Lanka's third-largest mobile operator with about three million subscribers, and has a market share of about 15 per cent.

On Wednesday, Millicom said it agreed to sell its 74.1 per cent holding in Millicom Lao Co Ltd to Russia's No.2 mobile phone operator for about $65 million.

Last month, it signed an agreement to sell its Cambodian operations to its local partner the Royal Group for $346 million.

BSNL has said it was open to expanding overseas, and last week said it was considering an invitation to join a consortium that is buying a 46 per cent stake in Kuwaiti telecommunication company Zain.