FILE PHOTO: A Vodafone logo is seen on a mobile internet dongle in this photo illustration, November 9, 2010. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Illustration/File Photo
The deal comes as Vodafone is looking to consolidate its businesses in Australia and New Zealand, with a $11 billion deal underway to merge its Australian joint venture business with TPG Telecom. Australia’s anti-trust regulator already blocked that merger bid. The business, since then, axed thousands of jobs and restructured itself in preparation to a stock market float that never saw the light of the day.
In May 2019, utilities investor Infratil had said that it was in talks with Vodafone to buy, along with another unnamed party, the telecom giant’s New Zealand operations.