Rumoured T-Mobile sale could turn into bidding war

Following on from Tuesday's news that Vodafone is considering buying out T-Mobile UK, it seems that interest has been expressed in other quarters.

There has been speculation for some time that T-Mobile's German parent company Deutsche Telekom is looking to get out of the UK mobile broadband market by offloading the struggling T-Mobile UK. Various possible buyers have been mooted, but most recently Vodafone was thought to be considering a buy-out - according to the Financial Times' sources.

A bid by Vodafone would be contentious owing to the large market share such a purchase would leave it with, but the company has finally admitted that it has made a 'preliminary approach' to Deutsche Telekom, with around €3 billion the suggested price.

However, it may have a bidding war on its hands, with both Orange and even O2 said to be considering making an offer, despite the fact that France Telecom, Orange's parent company has said that it does not want to take on T-Mobile. It's thought that these companies would favour a joint venture approach, however, rather than a direct takeover, which would be less likely to upset the regulators concerned about the creation of market-dominating giant.

No official statments are available at the moment but it is also rumoured that UK and EU regulators may have quietly given the go-ahead for a Vodafone bid.