Both Vodafone and Liberty Global are eyeing the quad play trend in Europe and investing in assets to enable them to play a role – the UK-based MNO has been acquiring wireline operators and partners in key markets like Germany, sometimes competing for the prizes with Liberty; Liberty has been rolling out homespots to support WiFi-first offerings, especially through its Benelux and UK subsidiaries. There is a clear logic to a merger between the firms, or more probably, given the regulatory hurdles, an asset swap or joint venture. But John Malone, chairman of the US-based international cable group, threw doubt on this, telling Bloomberg that, despite months of talks, the companies had not worked out a workable deal. Vodafone confirmed…