The telecommunications company Digicel is considering buying Telecom New Zealand's interest in the Cook Islands' biggest phone and internet phone provider.
The New Zealand Herald reports that Telecom New Zealand announced shortly before Christmas it was thinking about selling its 60 per cent stake in Telecom Cook Islands.
The Cook Islands' Finance Minister Mark Brown is reported as telling local media that Digicel is back on the beach and kicking the tyres again and will probably make an offer to Telecom New Zealand.
Digicel has made a number of previous bids to buy Telecom Cook Islands, which the Cook Islands government has operated as a joint venture with Telecom New Zealand since 1991.
Digicel was established in 2001 and expanded into the Pacific in 2006.
It has operations in Vanuatu, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji and Nauru.
