Vodafone in talks to buy Kabel Deutschland, reports say -UPDATE

Vodafone's German unit is reportedly in talks to buy Kabel Deutschland, the largest cable television operator in the country.Germany's Manager Magazin kicked off the speculation of the company's bid for the rival business.It said Vodafone Germany's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jens Schulte-Bockum and Group Strategy Chief Warren Finegold have put together a plan which has been taken to CEO Vittorio Colao to vote on the proposal.Vodafone declined to comment on the reports when reached by Sharecast. Shares in the mobile phone giant were down 4.38% to 32.75p at 11:40 Wednesday, while Kabel gained 8.9% to €69.00. The news comes after Vodafone last week posted a worse than expected drop in group revenue for the last three months of 2012.The FTSE 100 telecoms company said revenues fell 1.8% to £11.38bn year-on-year for the quarter, experiencing the biggest decline in the take up of services in Europe. Is there any truth to any of the above?Only time will tell if there is any truth to any of the above. However, analysts at Jefferies do see some sense to the speculation. For one, they believe that Deutsche Telekom may at some point decided to push quad-play as a way to outcompete mobile-only and fixed-only competitors - although there are no signs of DT going down this route at this time. Nevertheless, at some point Vodafone may look 'address' that strategic threat. Interestingly, they add that, "In as much as this is a Europe-wide concern for Vodafone, management might consider taking over Liberty at some point - and owning the largest German cable operator would strengthen that deal rationale."RD