Vodafone says regulators might welcome any new Liberty deal

BARCELONA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Vodafone said regulators could look favourably on any wider tie-up between the mobile telecoms giant and cable company Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) in Europe because it would counterbalance the power of former incumbents in Germany, Italy and Britain.

"The European Commission has clearly indicated that they like the idea of stronger competitors to former incumbents," Vodafone Chief Executive Vittorio Colao told analysts and investors at a Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) industry conference in Barcelona on Wednesday.

"They see that in each country there is a KPN (Amsterdam: KPN.AS - news) , a Telecom Italia (Other OTC: TIAJF - news) (TLIT,MI), a Deutsche Telekom (LSE: 0MPH.L - news) , a BT , that are at the end of the day still incredibly, I would not want to use the word dominant, but let's say influential. And you want a counter force, and we could be that counter force," he said.

Vodafone and Liberty joined forces in the Dutch telecoms market in August, agreeing the local deal in February soon after talks on a wider European tie-up failed.

Analysts, however, say Liberty and Vodafone remain natural partners in Europe as mobile and fixed line broadband markets converge.

Colao said the Dutch joint venture had started off "very well", but when asked if it could be viewed as a trial leading to a wider deal he said, "not necessarily".

"Each market is different, they have different objectives in other markets, we have different strengths in different markets, but of course it helps," he told the audience at Morgan Stanley's Telecoms, Media and Technology conference.

"My sense is it depends on how their strategy evolves and how the markets evolve." (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Writing by Paul Sandle; Editing by Greg Mahlich)