It is understood that vodafoneicon is mulling the prospect of purchasing the UK network of T-Mobile (originally Mercury 'One-2-One') in a multi-million Euro deal. This will be the second time vodafoneicon has vied for a slice of another UK network - over 10 years ago they purchased German outfit Mannesmann, which at the time had already purchased orangeicon. Regulatory intervention then required Vodafone dispose of Orange, and this was eventually sold to France Telecom.

It's not clear whether Vodafone will incur the wrath of the regulators again as they attempt to purchase another GSM 1800/3G network - in the current climate it is too close to call, but clearly makes sense for the network as German-owned T-Mobile is already feeling the strain and closing down UK call centres to move abroad.