	five groups apply to buy french telephone group five consortia have applied to buy the french state owned telephone equipment manufacturer cie generale de constructions telephoniques cgct which will give the owners control of pct of the french telephone switching market sources close to finance minister edouard balladur said the french government has given itself until the end of april to decide which applicant will be accepted they added while several foreign groups have said they want to gain a foothold in the french market their potential stake in cgct is limited to pct under privatisation laws passed last year with pct to be left in french hands the finance ministry sources gave no details of the groups interested in cgct but several have publicly announced their candidacies u s telecommunications giant american telephone and telegraph co t n which has been at the centre of the two year battle for cgct has teamed up with the dutch based philips telecommunications industrie b v a subsidiary of nv philips gloeilampenfabriek pglo as and societe anonyme de telecommunications sat to present a joint bid in association with holding company cie du midi sa mcdp p and five french investment funds a second bid has come from the west german electronics group siemens ag sieg f which hopes to take a pct stake in cgct with the french telecommunications jeumont schneider taking the remaining pct sweden s ab lm ericsson has also submitted a bid for the maximum pct permitted in association with french defence electronics group matra which would hold between and pct and construction group bouygues matra has already uired cgct s private telephone business reuter 
