Oct 16 (Reuters) - French telecom operator Orange

has increased its offer for the 50% it does not own in

MasOrange to 4.8 billion euros ($5.6 billion), Spanish news

website El Confidencial reported on Thursday, citing

unidentified market sources.

The new bid is 20% higher than the 4 billion euros offered

in July for the stake that is jointly owned by private equity

funds KKR, Cinven and Providence. It amounts to 10

billion euros including debt, El Confidencial added in its

report.

A spokesperson for MasOrange declined to comment on El

Confidencial's report. Orange, KKR, Providence and Cinven did

not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Orange's Spanish unit - of which it had full ownership -

last year merged with rival MasMovil, which was owned by the

three funds. The resulting joint venture became the country's

biggest mobile operator serving more than 30 million mobile

customers.

($1 = 0.8576 euros)