Vodafone is said to be mulling a bid for German cable operator Kabel Deutschland (KDG) in a bid to bolster its fixed line credentials in one of its largest European markets.

The Financial Times reports that the UK-based operator group has been “weighing up” a bid, but has yet to approach the German group.

Cable firms such as KDG are currently under the spotlight as potential acquisition targets following the recent purchase of Virgin Media by US cable giant Liberty Global. It is thought that Liberty Global could be a rival bidder for KDG, as could Vodafone Germany’s domestic rival, Deutsche Telekom.

Vodafone is believed to have looked at KDG a number of times in recent years. It has also been linked with cable firms in Spain (ONO) and Italy (Fastweb) where it also has local mobile arms.

CEO Vittorio Colao told the Financial Times last week that the operator was continuing to look at the cable market in Europe. He said it would either strike commercial agreements with cable operators, invest in its own fibre networks, as it had done in Portugal and elsewhere, or “look at existing assets” to acquire.

KDG is owned by Providence Equity Partners; it is Germany’s largest cable operator, boasting 13.9 million subscribers.