Hutchison Telecommunication, which operates under the 3 brand in Australia, and Vodafone are combining their Australian businesses in an equal joint venture. The merged entity will have 6 million customers and revenues of A$4 billion $2.7 billion for the 12 months ended June 30, 2008.
Hutchison and Vodafone have been on different sides of the table from each other in the past, for example, in 2007 when Hutchison sold its Indian telecommunications business to the UK-based mobile operator, but this is their first joint venture.
Vodafone Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group. It is the number three mobile operator in Australia, after Telstra and Optus, with more than 4.2 million...