Vodafone weighing bid for C&W

LONDON - Reuters

Vodafone Group, the world’s largest mobile operator by revenue, said it was thinking of making an offer for Britain’s Cable & Wireless Worldwide whose fixed-line network could boost bandwidth for its Internet hungry customers.

“Vodafone regularly reviews opportunities in the sector and confirms that it is in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for CWW,” the company said yesterday in response to press speculation.

C&W Worldwide, which has issued a string of profit warnings since its demerger from Cable & Wireless Communications in March 2010, has fixed lines that could be used by mobile operators to shift traffic from straining wireless networks. It declined to comment on Vodafone’s statement.