Hutchison Whampoa, the flagship conglomerate of Li Ka-shing, saw its shares rise sharply yesterday on news that it was nearing a deal with British telecommunications giant Vodafone to merge their mobile networks in Ireland into a joint venture.
The combination would be the latest example of efforts by rival mobile network operators to pool resources to cut costs and make the best use of their infrastructure investments, without compromising service to customers.
Shares of Hutchison were up 3.9 per cent to finish at HK$70.60, the blue-chip stock's highest close since reaching HK$70.82 on May 9, after earlier rising almost 5 per cent to a nine-month high during the session.
Details of the proposed 50-50 joint venture between Hutchison's Three Ireland unit and Vodafone had been drawn up, but nothing has been signed, according to separate sources cited by Reuters and Bloomberg.
That infrastructure-sharing arrangement would result in the biggest mobile network in Ireland, where Dublin-based Eircom Group's Meteor Mobile and Telefonica Ireland's O2 also compete.
Three Ireland and Vodafone, however, will maintain their respective radio spectrum licences, sales teams and marketing operations to serve their own subscribers.