In 1999, Vodafone acquired the mobile phone operator AirTouch.
AirTouch Communications was a U.S. wireless company spun off from Pacific Telesis in 1994. It built a substantial cellular business, particularly in the western United States, and also held interests in wireless operations in several other countries. Vodafone, then a rapidly expanding British mobile operator, won a bidding contest for the company after competing interest from Bell Atlantic.
The transaction was announced in January 1999 and completed on June 29, with the combined company taking the name Vodafone AirTouch. It brought together Vodafone’s European presence and AirTouch’s American wireless assets, helping create one of the world’s largest mobile communications groups at the time.
Historical sources quote different values, including roughly $56 billion and approximately $62 billion, because deal calculations differed according to share prices, cash, stock, and assumed obligations. That valuation variation can cause confusion, but the operator named in the question is unambiguous. T-Mobile and Orange were not the company Vodafone acquired in this 1999 transaction.