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Vodafone and Verizon deny Sprint speculation
By Paul Taylor and James Politi in New York and Lina Saigol in,London
Published: December 15 2004 02:00 / Last updated: December 15 2004 02:00

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7566f148-4e3e-11d9-9351-00000e2511c8.html

Verizon and Vodafone both distanced themselves yesterday from speculation that they were preparing a bid for Sprint, the third-largest US mobile operator.


Sprint is expected to announce plans for a $35bn merger with Nextel, the fifth-largest US mobile carrier, as soon as today. The combined company would have almost 40m subscribers, behind Cingular, the market leader, and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone.

News of the proposed Sprint-Nextel deal has sparked speculation that Verizon and Vodafone might enter the fray.

But Vodafone, whose share price in London dropped sharply following reports that had given Verizon the go-ahead for a bid, went out of its way yesterday to deny it was considering such a move. "There have not been any discussions, and we are not in discussions with Verizon about any offer for Sprint," it said.

Vodafone, which owns 45 per cent stake of Verizon Wireless and so would need to give its approval for any bid, indicated it remained committed to pursuing organic growth at Verizon Wireless. People close to Verizon signalled no immediate intention to launch a bid. Vodafone's denial of interest was to be taken seriously, they said.

Both Verizon and Vodafone would like to increase their stakes in Verizon Wireless, which lost its market-leading rank to Cingular in late October when Cingular completed its $41bn acquisition of AT&T Wireless.

Vodafone shareholders are known to be deeply sceptical about any further acquisitions following an abortive bid for AT&T Wireless.

Reflecting that, the shares were marked down by 3.5 per cent in early London trading but began to recover after Vodafone dismissed the latest speculation. Additional reporting by Maija Pesola and Robert Budden in London