According to four sources knowledgeable of the plan, Rothschild was hired by the private equity owners of Numericable to work on a Paris Stock Market debut within the year. The value of the cable firm is said to be at Eur 5 billion.

Hedge funds, Carlyle, Altice Group and Cinven are yet to be appointed bookrunners for the listing. They are also expected to pick three more banks in the coming weeks, still according to same sources.

Based on its core earnings in 2012, Numericable could be valued up to Eur5 billion. In 2007, the cable operator also acquired Completel, a business-to-business infrastructure-based telecom company that adds Eur181 million to its 2012 core earnings of Eur456 million.

The share sale would mean an exit to Cinven, Numericable's private equity owner. Meanwhile, Altice and Carlyle might decide to keep their stakes, sources said.

The plan for Numericable came after discussions with Vivendi's mobile unit, SFR, failed merger earlier this year. The funds are hoping to get investors for cable assets in Europe after Vodafone's proposal bid offer for Kabel Deutschland.

Numericable declined to comment with said report.