Carphone Warehouse plots Tiscali bid

Carphone Warehouse is planning to launch a bid for Tiscali’s UK arm, chief executive Charles Dunstone has declared.

If successful, the takeover would lead to Carphone Warehouse becoming the country’s largest broadband supplier.

Mr Dunstone’s admission of interest comes as the firm is expected to release strong fourth quarter results to the end of March, which has seen total broadband subscribers increase by 109,000 to 2.7 million.

Around 215,000 customers switched to Carphone Warehouse’s unbundled broadband tariff from BT Wholesale’s rival platform.

Mr Dunstone said, "Our performance over the last three months has been good in a slower consumer environment.

"The broadband business is set to deliver significant further margin improvement, and provides us with excellent earnings visibility."

The chief executive also criticised proposals put forward by BT to increase the amount paid by broadband providers for using its network, claiming Carphone Warehouse had been previously treated poorly with regards to control of landlines.

Ofcom is expected to start consulting on the plans across the industry next month.