Vodafone has emerged as a possible front-runner in the race to acquire Tiscali, the Anglo-Italian ISP that put itself up for sale this week.

The Guardian reports that, as Tiscali’s board is understood to prefer selling both its UK and Italian subsidiaries together rather than separately, Vodafone – a company keen to expand its fixed-line assets in both countries – could be best placed to make a deal. There are a host of other potential suitors reportedly in the frame, including BSkyB, Orange, Carphone Warehouse, Telecom Italia, Fastweb and Sky Italia, but most of these are believed to be interested in just one of the Tiscali subsidiaries but not both. Vodafone declined to comment on the speculation.

Vodafone confimed its interest in the Italian fixed-line market with the acqusition of Italian ISP Tele2 last year, while it is also reportedly keen to expand its fledging UK broadband business, which currently uses BT’s network for access. Tiscali UK is the UK’s fourth-largest broadband provider with around 1.8 million customers. Analysts have valued the UK business at around £600 million though many suspect the final price tag will be lower. Tiscali has set a deadline of 5 May for initial non-binding offers.