Vodafone could acquire Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in £80bn deal
Vodafone could be set to increase the convergence of communications providers in the EU with a blockbuster takeover of Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in a deal worth a reported £80 billion. Following BT's pursuit of O2 and EE in the UK, Vodafone have been eyeing a major ISP in response and the acquisition of/merger with Liberty Global would represent a real challenge to BT's supposed dominance (once their deal completes). BT is already the UK's largest broadband provider and controls large amounts of the country's broadband infrastructure. A deal to acquire Telefonica SA's O2 or EE - jointly owned by Deutsche Telekom AG and France's Orange SA - would allow BT to achieve the state it used to hold as the UK's dominant telecommunications provider. Prior to selling its Cellnet network to Telefonica back in 2005, BT was one of the largest mobile networks and will companies focusing on quad-play and convergence, a potential acquisition would allow it to return to this state. Vodafone are already looking ahead to their quad-play offering with UK broadband and TV services set to launch next Spring. We've already heard that they are set to acquire Tesco's video-on-demand Blinkbox service and is reportedly in talks ...
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