French telecom operator Neuf Cegetel has denied press reports that it has acquired Deutsche Telekom’s Club Internet France. Les Echos said Monday morning Neuf would buy the ISP, which also offers IPTV, for a figure between €430 and €460 million, but Neuf Cegetel was quick to deny any such deal existed.
Deutsche Telekom wants to sell the French subsidiary which made a loss of €200 million during 2006. The ISP counts 600,000 connected homes. Free/Ilyad, another French telecom operator, was reported to have offered between €380 and €400 million, but dropped out of the race when Neuf apparantly increased its bid.
Last year Neuf Cegetel bought AOL France bringing the total number of subscribers to 2.17 million. Should the operator acquire Club Internet France it would surpass Free, which has 2.28 million customers.
