France Telecom, the telecoms firm that controls mobile operator Orange, is unlikely to make a bid for Meteor following an initial evaluation of the company.

Orange, which competed with Meteor in the competition for third mobile licence in 1999, is understood to have evaluated the sale documents for Meteor.

However, the company is now unlikely to make a formal bid for Meteor, which may be sold by its US parent Western Wireless.

Industry sources said an international team based in Paris had evaluated sale documents for Meteor prepared by Western Wireless's corporate adviser Deutsche Bank. But it is now thought unlikely that the company will make a formal bid for Meteor.

Orange, which has 16 mobile operations worldwide, took an injunction against the award of the third mobile licence by the telecoms regulator to Meteor.

The court challenge delayed Meteor's launch by at least a year, enabling the two biggest Irish mobile firms Vodafone and O2 to grab a huge amount of market share.

At least one other big international player, Tele2, is understood to have cast its eye over Meteor.

But it is also thought to have only taken a cursory look the mobile firm.

This leaves Eircom, Smart Telecom and Denis O'Brien on the shortlist as bidders for Meteor, which has about 250,000 users.

Eircom's decision this week to register an interest in the State's fourth, and as yet unused third generation (3G) mobile phone licence, is seen by some analysts as a way to give it a back door into the mobile market if it does not acquire Meteor.

Meanwhile, it emerged last night that Meteor and Smart Telecom are both expressing an interest in competing for the fourth 3G licence in the Republic.

A Meteor spokesman said it had already notified its interest in the licence to the regulator.