Orange is understood to be in talks to buy the Spanish alternative telco Jazztel.
El Economista reports that the French company may be willing to bid as much as €2,700 million, which is almost the market capitalisation of Jazztel, paving the way for what would be the third major deal in Spain this year following Ono’s acquisition by Vodafone and MásMóvil’s by Ibercom.
It adds that talks are ongoing, with the main stumbling block now being the price, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch would oversee any deal between the two parties.
Orange had 14.07 million customers in Spain, of which 12.4 million were mobile and nearly 1.7 million fixed broadband, at the end of 2013.
It has been present in the country’s internet market since 2007, when it acquired Ya.com, then with 400,000 customers, for around €320 million.
