With a combined worth of $342 billion, Vodafone Mannesmann may well soon be the most valuable telephone company on the planet. What's more, it is a wireless firm and, as such, an insurgent determined to wrest customers from not just other mobile firms, but fixed-line incumbents as well. Many now expect a frenzy of deals, as fearful telecoms rivals scramble to extend their wireless portfolios before it is too late. And ironically, no prize will be fought over more fiercely than Orange, a British mobile operator whose purchase by Mannesmann in October triggered Voda-fone's bid, but which Chris Gent, the 51-year-old Englishman who masterminded the deal, must now spin off to satisfy regulators.
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