BSkyB has made a £450 million bid to acquire the British operations of Italian telecoms giant Tiscali.
In September, the Carphone Warehouse bid £150 million less than had been expected for Tiscali, valuing the broadband company at under £450 million.(see Carphone Warehouse Makes Tiscali Offer).
Tiscali has been up for sale since it launched a strategic review in February. If BSkyB’s bid is successful, it would become the third biggest player in the market behind BT and Virgin Media, with 3.6 million subscribers.
Sky released a first quarter trading update on Friday, revealing that its operating profits were up by 21% to £179 million while revenue increased 5% to £1.25 billion (see BSkyB’s profits grow faster than revenues).