Dutch telecoms company KPN, which wants to sell its 21 per cent stake in Eircom, is discussing potential mergers and alliances with several telecoms groups within and outside Europe. They are thought to include DoCoMo of Japan, Telefonica of Spain, and at least one other potential ally, sources said yesterday.

On Friday KPN postponed the flotation of its mobile unit which is set to be one of Europe's biggest issues because talks with a potential partner accelerated. That led discussions with Telefonica, the Spanish communications group, to gather pace.

KPN said yesterday: "We are talking to more than two potential strategic partners. When one set of discussions accelerates it has an effect on other discussions. That is what happened last week." KPN declined to comment on its talks with DoCoMo.

Investment bankers said there had been discussions about a joint bid between KPN and DoCoMo for Orange of the UK, and these had broadened into talks about DoCoMo taking a stake in KPN. But it remained unclear how far the talks between the Japanese company and KPN had advanced.

No buyer has yet emerged for the Eircom stake. Some analysts blame the poor performance of its share price for this.