Carphone Warehouse buys Tiscali assets

Carphone Warehouse has purchased the UK assets of struggling internet provider Tiscali for £236 million.

The mobile phone retailer made the deal with Italian company Tiscali after it ran into financial difficulties at the start of the year.

The internet provider, which currently has debts of about 600m euros (£535m), had previously been in talks with BSkyB about a takeover, but negotiations broke down in March.

Carphone Warehouse currently provides broadband services under its Talk Talk brand and will now acquire Tiscali's three million UK customers. It also owns AOL UK.

Speaking to the BBC, Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone confirmed that the Tiscali brand would eventually disappear in the UK but that all email addresses would survive.

Carphone Warehouse was founded in 1989 and operates 2,400 mobile phone shops across Europe. Last month it announced plans to separate its mobile phone business from its TalkTalk fixed line and broadband operations.