Following yesterday's confirmation by Vocus that it had agreed to buy Nextgen Networks for $854 million, the attention in the industry has now turned back to TPG Telecom and its widely speculated plans to buy Vodafone's operations in Australia. 
A market analyst told DataRoom yesterday they would find it difficult to imagine that a tie-up between TPG and Vodafone would not happen within the next 12 months.
Vodafone Australia is jointly owned by its British parent and Hutchison Australia, backed by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing. Vodafone is TPG's largest wholesale customer and the pair last year struck a deal where TPG would supply the mobile phone operator's telecommunications infrastructure.
There is less confidence in the market than there was several months ago that a TPG-Vodafone acquisition would also encompass the New Zealand operations, but sources say that from an advisory perspective a transaction would likely involve Macquarie advising TPG and UBS advising Vodafone, with Goldman Sachs working with Hutchison.
Other targets include SIM card provider Amaysim, which had previously been scrutinised for an acquisition by Vocus, and is said to have been under consideration for a potential purchase by Optus.
Should Optus snap up the business, it would be its first acquisition in Australia for about a decade, sources said, adding that the move would be a change of tact for the telco, which has been busy investing in Asia of late. 2Degrees, the third largest mobile phone service provider across the Tasman, may be in the sights of Vocus in the future, although the group has not recently popped up within its crosshairs.
The company is currently planning to float on the Australian Securities Exchange and the NZX through Macquarie Capital, UBS and Forsyth Barr.On the transaction announced yesterday, Credit Suisse advised Vocus, while Nextgen worked with Macquarie Capital. Macquarie's telco banker is Ed Burley, whose twin brother Richard is Nextgen's head of corporate development and strategy.