Carphone Warehouse is the only company left in the £450 million auction for broadband firm Pipex as the proposed sale is nearing collapse, according to latest reports.

The sticking point is said to be the price – Carphone paid £370 million for AOL's UK arm last year, a company which had 1.5 million customers.

Meanwhile Pipex only has 600,000 subscribers and therefore prompting industry experts to view the quoted price as overly ambitious.

Sources close to the negotiations told the Financial Mail that the owners of TalkTalk had tabled a low offer just to keep the deal alive.

"Pipex might be left an orphan," said one City worker. "If [chairman Peter] Dubens cannot live with a single auction entrant at this stage in the process, the whole sale is in doubt."

When the sale was first announced, BSkyB, Virgin Media and BT were among the interested parties, but these firms have now all pulled out at the current asking price.

Among Pipex's deals are its mini, midi and maxi products, which provide 2Gb, 15Gb and unlimited monthly usage respectively, costing £6.50, £9.99 and £14.99.

The company, which sponsors Fulham football club, also offers a domain name registration service called 123reg.




Tuesday, 10th April 2007

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