Sky, BT, others enter Tiscali bids

Sky, BT and Carphone Warehouse are among a handful of large companies who have entered informal bids for the assets of telecoms group Tiscali.

Other firms named in press reports are Vodafone, Wind and Fastweb, while Telecom Italia and Virgin Media may also be involved.

Tiscali's most valuable operations are in the UK, where it is one of the largest broadband service providers and has the country's most developed television-over-DSL service. Buyers are likely to want to break up the Italian-based company, though it has expressed a preference for remaining intact.

The deadline for firms to enter non-binding offers passed yesterday and Tiscali's board members will meet on Monday to discuss the next step. The company is said to want to complete a deal by the end of June.