SEOUL -- Two consortiums including foreign firms and a South Korean company bid for shares Friday in a major South Korean Fixed Line Telecommunications Company, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said.

state-owned KEPCO said it would sell a stake of up to 54 percent in its subsidiary Powercomm Co., South Korea's second largest operator of Fixed Communications Lines after KT corp.

The bidders include a consortium led by Hanaro Telecom Inc., which has teamed with three international investors to propose to buy a 30 percent stake in Powercomm, AFP reported.

The American International Group and emerging markets partnership are participants in the consortium, a Hanaro spokesman said. He declined to identify the third foreign investor.

Others bidders are Korea Thrunet Co. and another consortium led by South Korea's Dacom Corp.

Dacom said its consortium proposed to buy a 45.5 percent stake in Powercomm. in a bid to secure management control and maximise possible synergies." The consortium includes Canada's Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDP), Japanese venture-fund Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund, and KTB network among others.

Out of the 45.5 percent stake it aims to buy in the auction, Dacom plans to take up 19.75 percent, with another 19.75 percent set aside for foreign investors and another 6 % allocated to local partners.

"Our decision to bid for a controlling stake is part of our strategy to combine the strengths of the two telecoms companies," it said in a statement.

The third bidder was Korea Thrunet Co. which has made a sole bid to buy a 30% stake in Powercomm.

"We may form a consortium with international investors if we outbid the competitors and actually we're in talks with some foreign investors over the issue," a Thrunet spokesman said.

South Korean Steel giant Pohang Iron and Steel Co.

and top mobile carrier sk Telecom Co. secured a five percent stake each in Powercomm. in the first auction in July 2000. But a second auction in February was called off due to a dearth of bidders.

Government officials said Powercomm. would offer a crucial facility for a telecoms firm to strengthen its position in the local industry, which is now dominated by SK Telecom and KT.