Vodafone Interested in Buying Tiscali - Report
Vodafone is reported to be considering a bit for troubled internet service provider, Tiscali after it put itself up for sale. Interested companies have until May 5th to tender offers for the company. The Financial Times, citing unnamed people close to the companies said that Vodafone is considering a bid for either the whole company, or taking just the UK assets as part of a consortium bid.
Tiscali has said that it would prefer not to be broken up though.
Vodafone already owns an ISP in Italy, where Tiscali is headquartered so any acquisition there could cause regulatory problems. Tiscali has a market share of around 15% in the UK, making it a desirable purchase for medium sized ISPs looking to reach tier 1 level - or for telcos looking to boost their triple play credentials.
During the telecoms bubble of the late 1990s, Tiscali went on a spending spree and acquired many European ISPs to build a pan-European platform. However, the company was forced to then sell many of these assets as the telecoms bubble burst. Despite that, the company recently brought UK ISP, Pipex for US$420 million.
On the web: Financial Times
Posted to the site on 17th April 2008