France's Illiad bids for T-Mobile US: report

Shares in T-Mobile jumped Thursday on a report that French telecommunications firm Iliad is bidding to buy the US wireless service carrier.

T-Mobile US shares were up more than four percent to $32.24 in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report that Iliad weighed in a week ago with a counter to an offer made by US telecom company Sprint.

The Journal reported that Iliad's bid was crafted to give it control of T-Mobile but did not specify financial terms.

A deal for Sprint and T-Mobile to merge has been brewing for months, with one report saying terms valuing T-Mobile at more than $30 billion were being hammered out.

T-Mobile on Thursday announced that its revenue in the second quarter was up eight percent from the same period last year, and that it had gained about 1.5 million subscribers.

© 2014 AFP