Irish telecommunications and computer services group ITG said yesterday that it is in talks regarding a possible acquisition which could lead to a "substantial transaction".

The company would give no further details. It recently bought British payphone company Telecentral for £10 million and Trexco Ltd for £1.6 million.

Meanwhile, another phone group, ITL, based in Dublin and Cork, said a deal with Global Telesystems Group (GTS) had been concluded. ITL is part of Netsource, a pan-European telecommunications services provider and details of the deal were first announced in October.

GTS is listed on the NASDAQ and has a current market capitalisation of $2.6 billion.