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Vodafone gets green light to buy Cable & Wireless, goes on a high-fiber diet
Vodafone has succeeded in its attempt to buy Cable & Wireless in a bid to become the UK's second largest telecoms company. The £1.04 billion ($1.6 billion) purchase had been at risk thanks to a C&W shareholder rebellion, but will will now go ahead barring regulatory approval. Big Red will take control of undersea cables that connect global telephone lines, a booming business division and a national fiber-optic network, which it'll use to boost its mobile data service -- sad news for anyone hoping the company would offer triple-play services on all that shiny fiber.
Vodafone looking to buy Cable & Wireless, just can't resist that fibre-optic infrastructure
UK mobile giant Vodafone is planning to buy up commercial network provider Cable & Wireless for just over £1 billion ($1.7 billion). If successful, it'll gain a national fibre-optic broadband network (separate to BT and Virgin Media's), a large portfolio of business customers and a backbone venture that connects 150 countries with undersea cables. The latter will probably be sold off so that Vodafone can concentrate on winning more enterprise customers from its rivals while also easing the burden on its own network. It's also worth pointing out that C&W previously offered retail broadband and cable services, but any notion of Vodafone using this acquisition to offer the same would be pure guesswork.
