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.
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.