Sky and TalkTalk join the list of bidders circling Telefonica’s O2
EUROPEAN pay-TV broadcaster Sky has been named among the growing list of parties interested in bidding for Telefonica’s UK mobile network O2, which was spurned by BT before Christmas in favour of a £12.5bn bid for rival EE.
Talks between Telefonica and Sky, as well as interest from UK value player TalkTalk, were first reported by the Spanish media yesterday, just days after it was revealed China’s Hutchison Whampoa, owner of the UK’s fourth largest mobile network Three, was eyeing its own £9bn bid.
The move would be the first for Sky into the so-called quad play market, adding mobile to its existing offering of TV, telephone and broadband, hot on the heels of rival BT.
Sky declined to comment on the reports and yesterday Nomura analysts described any bid by Sky for O2 as “surprising given management have said there is limited evidence for mobile becoming a household purchase” in a note.
TalkTalk also declined to comment.