AOL Europe race

AOL Europe race

Last week media speculation puts several contenders, such as BT, BSkyB, Telecom Italia, DT, Neuf Cegetel, Free, Vodafone, The Carphone Warehouse, Orange UK, O2, at the forefront of the race to buy total or part of AOL Europe. In spite of Time Warner' s deny, it seems the sale of AOL Europe is underway. BT, BSkyB, Vodafone, O2, The Carphone Warehouse, and Orange are interested in AOL UK. Free, Neuf Cegetel, DT and Telecom Italia are interested by AOL France. Telecom Italia is interested in AOL Germany.

AOL Europe business has more than 1.2m broadband ADSL customers and 900k dial-up users, and could be worth €900m. It is clear it is a good opportunity for mobile operators wanting to sell converged services (Vodafone, O2, Orange in the UK) or for fixed operators wanting to catch up with market leaders (Neuf Cegetel, Free, Telecom Italia) or increase their market position (BT). Who will win? Bids are expected this week.