By Sam Schechner

BARCELONA--Orange SA (ORAN) is within days of announcing a deal worth "well over" 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) to sell its Dominican Republic unit, the company's chief executive said Friday, plowing cash into the former French telecommunications monopoly ahead of an expected wave of consolidation in the sector.

"The probability that we'll make a Dominican Republic announcement in coming days is very high," said Stephane Richard, speaking on the sidelines of an investor conference in Barcelona. "It's for a value well above what had been expected, well above 1 billion euros," he added.

The Paris-based telecoms company put the unit up for aucion this summer in an effort to reduce debt and increase its financial flexibility to participate in an expected wave of consolidation in Europe - and had previously said it expected to seal a deal by the end of the year.

Orange had set a mid-November deadline for bids for the company, people familiar with the matter said last month. Among those who had expressed preliminary interest were the U.K.'s Cable & Wireless Communications, Jamaica's Digicel, and Dominican conglomerate Grupo Leon Jimenes, those people said.

Mr. Richard declined to comment on the buyer or the structure of the deal.

The likely deal comes as Mr. Richard is preparing Orange to take part in consolidation among European telecoms companies. The company could be a buyer of mobile operators in Spain or Poland, or fixed-line operators in Belgium or Romania, Mr. Richard said during the conference on Friday.

Some deals may be less likely, however. Mr. Richard said Friday that a long-theorized merger with Deutsche Telekom is "absolutely unrealistic" for the time being. He also said that while a partial initial public offering of EE - Orange's U.K. joint venture with Deutsche Telekom - remains possible, he added that the companies could well decide to hang onto the two assets.

"All options are open," Mr. Richard said.

Orange Dominicana is the French company's only major asset in Latin America. In the third quarter, the unit had 3.3 million mobile subscribers, up 6.3% from a year earlier, according to company figures. It had 2012 revenue of EUR451 million, or 1% of Orange's overall sales, according to the company's annual report.

-Write to Sam Schechner at Sam.Schechner at Sam.Schechner@wsj.com