Orascom Telecom of Egypt has rebuffed a sweetened offer from France Telecom to buy out minority shareholders in ECMS, Egypt’s largest mobile phone operator.

Orascom raised the stakes in its long-running and acrimonious dispute with the French company over control of the ECMS by saying it wanted a deal transferring full control of Mobinil, the holding company that owns 51 per cent of ECMS, to France Telecom to be annulled altogether.