Verizon has long sought to buy out its minority partner, Vodafone, in Verizon Wireless. Vodafone is the dominant global wireless provider but controls nothing in the United States, the biggest wireless market.

Those conflicting desires are a recipe for all sorts of deal speculation.

One particularly audacious gambit is being seriously considered, the Financial Times' Alphaville blog reports: a $160 billion takeover bid for Verizon by Vodafone. Such an offer, representing a 30 percent premium over Verizon's current market price, would make it one of the biggest takeover offers ever, along with the America Online-Time Warner merger and Vodafone's own acquisition of Mannesmann of Germany.

No overtures have been made to Verizon, says Alphaville, which cautions that Vodafone may never pursue a bid. But the blog says the company has discussed the idea in recent weeks. One scenario would be to acquire Verizon, chiefly for its 55 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, then spin off the fixed-line business to private-equity buyers.

Vodafone quickly issued a statement in response to the report: "Vodafone wishes to make it clear that it has no plans to make such an offer," it said, according to Reuters.

The talk of a deal comes as some investors have been pressuring Vodafone to return more cash to shareholders, and others have been urging a breakup of the company. And there has been chatter in the past that Vodafone itself could become a takeover target, perhaps by AT&T, even though Vodafone's market value is more than $170 billion. Still, shares of Vodafone have been steadily climbing over the last 12 months, following a prolonged slump when the boom in telecommunications collapsed.

It should all make for an interesting Vodafone shareholders meeting on July 24.