No sooner have NTL and Telewest finally agreed to merge, than it seems someone else might be interested in buying the enlarged UK cableco.

So reports the WSJ, which says a group of private-equity firms are mulling an $11bn bid for the pair.

On Monday, NTL announced - finally - that it is to buy Telewest in a deal that values the UK's second largest cableco at around $6bn.

Once the deal is completed, the pair - whose cable networks do not overlap - will be able to provide TV, phone and broadband to more than half of UK homes.

The combined group will have almost five million residential punters and is set to be the largest provider of domestic broadband services in the UK with 2.5m subscribers. ®

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• Job risk sours NTL/Telewest tie-up (3 October 2005)
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