Vodafone has not made a bid for Tiscali: source

LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone Group (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has not submitted a bid for Italian broadband operator Tiscali (TIS.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) but it is still considering its options, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Tiscali wants non-binding bids in by next week.

Italian newspaper MF reported on Wednesday that Vodafone and BT (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) had already submitted bids for the whole of Tiscali and that others had made bids to buy parts of the company.

Both BT and Vodafone declined to comment.

Tiscali has appointed investment banks to advise on strategy and it could sell the group as a whole or separate its Italian and British businesses, making it attractive to British broadband operators.

Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) have said they will look at Tiscali but stress that they are still focused on growing their own offerings organically.

BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch told reporters on Wednesday that the process was at an early stage and he had not held talks with the Italian group.

"I'm sure we will take a look at that but you can see from the results that we've posted in broadband today, where we've led the market for the fifth quarter in succession, that the business organically is doing very well," he said.

"That's really what we're focused on right now."