Sky Italia has been named as one of the companies in talks with VimpelCom and Hutchison in an asset sale designed to head off regulatory concerns.
The two want to merge their mobile operations but plan to sell off part of their network. According to Bloomberg, talks with Sky, the French Iliad and other groups would help create a new mobile network, but are still at an early stage.
Sky has also been cited as a Kingmaker in any sale of O2 by Telefonica; earlier this month a purchase by Three was blocked by the EU.
VimpelCom’s Wind and 3 Italia have a block of redundant frequencies and 5,000 wireless masts to sell to placate the European Union ahead of a formal objection.
The merger would create the largest operator in Italy, measured by customers.
