Carphone Warehouse has agreed a £236 million deal to buy the UK operations of Italian internet service provider Tiscali.
Carphone Warehouse, which currently provides broadband services under its TalkTalk brand and also owns AOL UK, will be the UK’s largest home broadband provider with 4.25 million subscribers when the deal is finalised at the end of June.
News of the deal saw Carphone Warehouse shares rise 3.8% by midmorning.
Mario Rosso, chief executive of Tiscali, said: “The transaction should be considered in light of the strong consolidating trend in the highly competitive UK market, evaluating Tiscali UK activities as a whole, thus preserving the value of its industrial assets and know-how within the Carphone Warehouse Group.”
BSkyB had been one of the favourites to land Tiscali before pulling out in March due to “deteriorating market conditions” (see Sky and Tiscali end talks).
