Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa has agreed to buy Telefonica’s British mobile unit O2 for up to £10.25bn (€13.7bn), as Asia’s richest man makes his boldest bet yet to revamp his European telecoms business.

Shares in Vodafone slipped more than 2% today following a report the firm was mulling a multi-billion pound bid for India's fourth largest mobile phone operator.