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To: Michael Allard who wrote (6872)	8/26/1999 8:50:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 29987

Times. Gent 'in talks' over Vodafone venture with Bell Atlantic August 26 1999 BUSINESS NEWS BY CHRIS AYRES CHRIS GENT, the chief executive of Vodafone AirTouch, the world's largest mobile phone group, is understood to be in talks with Bell Atlantic, aimed at creating an ambitious joint venture in the US. Analysts believe that the deal could involve a merger of AirTouch's West Coast operations in the US and Bell Atlantic's mobile phone division, which covers the East Coast. The combined businesses could be worth more than $100 billion (œ62.5 billion). However, Mr Gent, who flew to the US yesteday morning, would have to overcome the ill-feeling between the two companies created when Vodafone gate-crashed merger talks between Bell and AirTouch. Vodafone eventually walked away with AirTouch for œ40 billion. The bitter takeover contest led to the collapse of AirTouch's various partnerships with Bell in the United States, which included an agreement between the two companies not to compete with each other in their home territories. This left Vodafone with the prospect of either having to build an East Coast network or buy one. Conservative estimates suggest that the latter option could cost as much as œ10 billion. Sources close to Vodafone yesterday confirmed that creating a national US network was an "urgent priority" for Mr Gent. The source said : "We regard Bell as a suitable partner for us." One leading London analyst said yesterday: "The cost to Vodafone of acquiring or buying a network in the US would be enormous. "Vodafone acquired the US assets of AirTouch not because it wanted them but because it had to bid for the whole company to get hold of its European assets. "So if it decided to share the assets with Bell to reduce the cost of building a new network, I wouldn't be surprised. The market would be quite relieved if the deal went through." Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd.