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.
'We believe that it's a very good opportunity for the UK in general.' Vodafone UK chief exec Ahmed Essam says the merge of Vodafone and Three UK will create a much bigger, faster and more reliable network. 📺 Sky 501