By: MarkJ - 30 March, 2009 (8:33 AM) - Score: 6405 - Fixed Line Broadband

The Daily Telegraph has rumoured that The Carphone Warehouse ( TalkTalk , AOL UK , Opal , One.Tel ) might be preparing to table a new bid for Tiscali's UK ISP division. In addition it's claimed that BSkyB ( Sky Broadband ) could also renew sale talks, despite Tiscali deeming negotiations "almost impossible to continue" earlier this month (original news).

The irony of such a move won't be lost on Tiscali, which rejected Carphone's initial bid of around £450m for undervaluing it. By today's standards such an offer would probably over-value the debt riddled UK ISP. It seems that both prospective owners have opted to wait until Tiscali is at a virtual collapse before offering the provider a lifeline, albeit at a budget price.

It's understood that BSkyB originally only offered £250m for the broadband providers UK division, which - over one year ago - was originally valued at anything between £500m and £600m. To date Tiscali's creditors have given the ISP a chance by suspending interest payments on its debts, though without a sale it could fall into administration, which would be disastrous for its 1.77m broadband customers (Top 10 ISPs) and lead to them being sold off.

We sincerely hope that both Tiscali and any interested parties do not let the ISP fail before buying up its assets, though Tiscali UK itself would need to be willing to accept a lower offer to avoid this happening; they’ve already lost many better deals by not doing this.