A deal that will create the country's biggest mobile phone operator has been struck by Vodafone and the owner of Three UK, CK Hutchison.
Under the merger plans, which have taken longer to finalise than expected, no cash will change hands.
It will be completed through a debt adjustment instead, with £1.7bn to transferred to the new company by Three.CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong-based group, had been exploring a sale of Three UK for some time. The operation, which has nine million customers, was seen internally as sub-scale for a sector that carries huge capital investment requirements for developing network infrastructure.
The merger was initiated by Vodafone's former chief executive Nick Read but he was effectively ousted at the end of last year amid widespread shareholder frustration over performance.Vodafone announces 11,000 job cuts His successor, Margherita Della Valle, has signalled her intention to improve the firm's competitiveness.
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