According to reports, at least five parties are looking to buy France Telecom’s Orange mobile and broadband business in the Netherlands.

The Dutch newspaper, Het Financieele Dagblad, said Tuesday that Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile led the pack of potential bidders which could generate more than Eur 1.5bn (£1bn).

Orange in the Netherlands holds about 12 per cent of the market there but has a growing broadband subscriber base of around 600,000 users

In its report, Het Financieele Dagblad named the other interested parties as: Liberty Global – owner of the Dutch cable TV firm, UPC, Warburg Pincus and Cinven, both private equity firms, Vodafone, Rabo Capital and Providence and Carlyle

According to the report, KPN, the Netherlands’ leading mobile operator, is thought not to be interested in the buy.