The Financial Times has reported that Vodafone and Liberty Media are in talks to swap a few things around and consolidate their businesses. One likely outcome, according to the paper, is that Vodafone could give up its smaller UK mobile operation to Liberty in exchange for control of Virgin Media.

At the moment Vodafone's UK business is worth less than half of the group's German operation and across Europe Vodafone's operations make up the majority of its profits. The FT says one deal might see Vodafone give up the UK, Dutch and German businesses and take over Virgin Media. This would be odd, as Vodafone is a British company, but would not own a British network.

Mind you, when the financial industry describes a deal as "complicated" there's precious little hope for the rest of us. Vodafone giving up its UK business seems stupid too, there's likely more growth in mobile networks than in Virgin Media, especially as linear TV loses ground and on-demand services tax mobile networks resources more.

Liberty isn't interested in Vodafone's assets in emerging markets, but India and Africa - both of which are big already, with huge potential as those countries grow their mobile networks and user base. It's here that Vodafone will see some big growth long term.

Via: The FT (Paywall)