Two Degrees Mobile Limited (2degrees) has effectively confirmed reports it may merge with the New Zealand arm of Australian telco Vocus Group Limited. The country's third-largest mobile company released a statement from its majority owner, Trilogy International Partners, stating it had paused work on an initial public offering of 2degrees "in order to consider a possible alternative transaction with another party". Trilogy said it expected to provide additional details "in the next several days", indicating that would either be to provide more details on the transaction or to say it was resuming activity on its IPO. 2degrees spokeswoman Andrea Brady said earlier that its planned IPO was on hold but said she could not make further comment. Vocus has been separately progressing a possible listing of Vocus NZ, which owns the Orcon Limited and Slingshot brands, raising the prospect that a merged business could still list on the NZX. A merger between Vocus and 2degrees has long been considered a possibility, with rumours of a tie-up circulating as long ago as 2016. 2degrees and Vocus NZ - which was being rebranded as Orcon in preparation for its IPO - are the country's third and fourth largest telecommunications firms respectively.