Tiscali, the television and broadband provider, is to move into mobile phone services, in the latest signal of its determination to forge ahead as an independent player.

The Italian-based operator, which has long been regarded as a likely bid target for a bigger UK rival, has signed a deal with Telecom Italia to offer mobile in Italy.

The deal has rekindled speculation about Tiscali’s intentions in the UK. Last year Mary Turner, chief executive of Tiscali UK, said that she was talking to mobile operators including Vodafone and 3 about a potential deal which would make Tiscali the UK's second “quadruple play” provider of fixed-line phone, mobile, broadband and television, alongside Virgin Media.

A spokesman for Tiscali said today that a move to offer mobile in the UK was still a possibility.

Tiscali, the UK’s third-biggest broadband provider, once operated in 12 countries but was forced by financial constraints to retrench to the UK and Italy.

As the last remaining major independent broadband player in the UK, analysts have long believed it is ripe for a sale and it has attracted interest from bigger rivals.

The chances of it being able to compete with giants such as Virgin Media and BSkyB, the satellite-television operator 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, are, they believe, slim.

However the group, which has more than 1.48 million UK broadband subscribers, has so far insisted it is not for sale and said it aims to forge ahead independently.

Last year it merged with HomeChoice, the television-on-demand pioneer. This month it snapped up the broadband base of Pipex, the UK’s fifth-biggest provider, in a £210 million deal.

In addition it recently announced a deal with Sky to offer the basic channels such as Sky One that have been pulled from Virgin Media’s service following a row.

Analysts say that Tiscali’s broadband base is more appealing than Pipex’s because it is less cluttered – Pipex was built up through a series of acquisitions.

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