Billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad SA is talking to private-equity firms about teaming to make an improved offer for Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile U.S. Inc. unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Iliad’s discussions with potential partners may accelerate after Deutsche Telekom indicated it is willing to negotiate a sale if an offer puts a valuation of at least $35 a share on the business, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The German company hasn’t received a new offer and there’s no guarantee a higher offer will be made, they said. 

The French mobile carrier, which has a press conference Sunday after reporting first-half earnings on Aug. 29, has been talking to U.S. buyout firms as well as companies and sovereign wealth funds, the people said.

Iliad’s previous offer of $33 per share in cash, or $15 billion, for a 56.6 percent stake, was rejected as too low a month ago. At a strategy meeting on Aug. 28, Deutsche Telekom senior managers discussed $35 to $40 as a realistic per-share valuation range at which the carrier is willing to negotiate a sale, said a person familiar with the matter.

Deutsche Telekom’s valuation of T-Mobile opens the door for an improved bid from Iliad or new proposals from potential suitors such as Dish Network Corp. after Sprint Corp. last month withdrew from talks to buy the unit. Iliad is aiming to replicate in the U.S. its French tactics of gaining market share with rock-bottom prices. Niel is confident T-Mobile could increase profit even while aggressively cutting prices and costs, a person familiar with the matter has said.

Iliad is claiming $10 billion in potential savings to be shared between it and T-Mobile, and has said its offer gives an overall value for T-Mobile U.S. of $36.2 a share by including such synergies. T-Mobile U.S. shares last closed at $30.08 a share in New York, valuing the company at $24.3 billion. Iliad has a market capitalization of $12.8 billion.

Deutsche Telekom, which owns about 67 percent of Bellevue, Washington-based T-Mobile, would consider forgoing a higher price if that meant avoiding the uncertainty of a prolonged regulatory review, other people familiar with the matter said last month.

An Iliad representative declined to comment.

Even if Iliad offers less than the $40 a share discussed by Sprint, the bid, if successful, would keep the number of U.S. wireless providers at four, a status quo favored by antitrust regulators.

The German phone company wants to avoid reliving its failed attempt to sell T-Mobile to AT&T Inc. for $39 billion. After that accord in 2011 was opposed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, T-Mobile proceeded to merge with MetroPCS Communications Inc.

Iliad’s bid is the boldest move yet by founder Niel, a 47-year-old entrepreneur who got his start with a sex-chat service on Minitel ― France’s now-defunct precursor to the Internet ― and is now France’s 8th richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In the telecommunications world, Niel’s move to fame came from pioneering so-called triple-play packages combining TV, broadband, and landline services. (Bloomberg)