Vodafone under fire over £18bn ‘bid’

SHARES in British mobile phone giant Vodafone fell more than 3% yesterday after the City came out against a mooted £18 billion expansion in North America.

Fund managers warned they would downgrade Vodafone if it succeeded in a bidding war for US operator AT&T Wireless also a target of rival Cingular.

The hard-line stance was based on fears that the Newbury-based group would be forced into overpaying for AT&T in an auction process that could drag on until February 29.