BSkyB And Carphone Warehouse In Race For AOL UK

BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse are competing head to head in the race to buy AOL’s UK arm, with the ISP likely to fetch well below the £1 billion price tag previously suggested.

According to a report in the Times, the Internet Service Provider is being fought over by the two companies after Orange pulled out of the bidding war (see Orange And BSkyB In Battle Over AOL UK).

Carphone Warehouse and BSkyB are both late movers in the broadband industry and will be bidding to acquire AOL’s 2.2 million customers to their ranks and boost the size of their internet businesses.

As well as other companies like BT (see BT Joins “Free” Broadband Battle), Sky recently entered the “free broadband” battle arena (see Sky Launches Free Broadband Service), whilst Carphone Warehouse’s Talk Talk was reprimanded by the ASA over its “free” broadband advertising (see TalkTalk Drops “Free” Broadband Price).

AOL announced in August that it planned to sell its internet access businesses in the UK, Germany and France as part of a shift of focus.

AOL: 01268 530919 www.aol.co.uk