Vodafone swallows Eircell

Vodafone will give Eircell shareholders 0.95 newly issued Vodafone shares for every two Eircell shares, and assume E250m (£155m) of Eircell debt.

Eircell is Ireland's most significant mobile operator, with around 60 per cent of the market. There is only one competitor, Esat Digifone, but a third licence has been awarded to US-Irish consortium Meteor, which is expected to start offering services soon.

Ireland is the third-fastest growing mobile phone market in Western Europe, and more than half the population owns a mobile phone.

The deal follows Vodafone's Y249.2bn (£1.5bn) cash purchase of 15 per cent of Japan Telecom shares, finalised yesterday.

Earlier in the day, Eircom unions were threatening strike action, fearing the deal would threaten Eircell employees' rights to share options, according to reports.