Vodafone mulls T-Mobile UK bid: Report

British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group Plc is considering a bid for T-Mobile UK, even though any deal could be stopped by regulators, the Financial Times reported.

British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group Plc is considering a bid for T-Mobile UK, even though any deal could be stopped by regulators, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

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Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone firm by revenues, is also looking at the possibility of a joint venture with T-Mobile UK, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, the paper said, citing people familiar with the situation.

T-Mobile UK has an enterprise value of between 3 billion and 4 billion euros ($4.2 billion-$5.6 billion) and buying it would make Vodafone the leader in the UK mobile phone market with a market share of about 40 per cent, the FT said.

O2, owned by Spain’s Telefonica SA, currently leads the British market with a market share of about 27 per cent.

No one at Vodafone or Deutsche Telekom was immediately available to comment.

The paper said the two companies had both declined to comment.