Vodafone to take over Cwireless

UK mobile phone giant Vodafone has agreed to buy telecoms group Cable Wireless Worldwide (CWW) in a deal valuing the firm at just over one billion pounds, the company confirmed Monday. Vodafone was left as CWW's only suitor after India's Tata Communications ended its interest in the firm last week. Under the terms of the deal, Vodafone will pay 38 pence per CWW share, giving the firm a value of 1.044 billion pounds. The takeover will add a UK fixed-line network to Vodafone's existing mobile network. CWW operates 20,500km of fibre-optic cables in the UK and owning this network will give Vodafone greater capacity at a time when the increasing use of smartphones is leading to a rise in demand for mobile data, experts said. Vodafone said the deal would also lead to cost savings, as at present it has to lease fixed-line capacity from companies such as BT. In a statement, Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said: "The acquisition of Cable Wireless Worldwide creates a leading integrated player in the enterprise segment of the UK communications market and brings attractive cost savings to our UK and international operations." Vodafone also said there was likely to be "a reduction of headcount" and premises following the takeover to remove overlaps between the businesses, although it did not give any details on numbers or locations. CWW specialises in networking and broadband for corporate clients. In the year to 31 March 2011, CWW reported revenues of 2.26 billion pounds and a pre-tax profit of 140 million pounds. In the same financial year, Vodafone's revenues were 45.9 billion pounds, with pre-tax profits of 9.5 billion pounds.