Virgin Media O2 in early talks to buy TalkTalk - report

Virgin Media O2 is reportedly in early talks to buy TalkTalk in a deal that would strengthen the broadband-to-streaming company's challenge to the dominance of BT.

The Guardian cited sources as saying that bankers at LionTree working on behalf of Virgin Media O2 and owner Liberty Global have sounded out TalkTalk after its owners put the company up for sale.

A takeover would bring together Britain's third and fourth biggest broadband providers, catapulting Virgin Media O2 above Sky to become the UK's second biggest internet business, the Guardian said. It would also bolster the Liberty Global-owned company's ambitions to take on BT.

Such a sale could prove to be the first of many deals in the telecoms industry, with the likes of Vodafone, BT and Virgin Media O2 urging regulators to let companies merge in order to make better returns.