Vodafone’s long-running effort to increase its stake in Polkomtel, Poland’s second-largest mobile operator, appeared to move a stage closer this week when Vodafone confirmed it has entered into talks to acquire a further 4.8 percent stake in the company from Denmark’s TDC. Vodafone already owns 19.6 percent of the operator. TDC is in the process of divesting its own 19.6 percent stake and Vodafone had to take legal action to prevent the Danish operator selling its entire stake to Polkomtel’s remaining shareholders, the Polish state-owned companies KGHM (19.6 percent stake), PSE (17.6 percent), Weglokoks (4 percent) and PKN Orlen (19.6 percent). As well as the 4.8 percent TDC stake, the Financial Times notes that Vodafone may also be looking at acquiring PKN Orlen’s stake. If both deals were completed, Vodafone would raise its shareholding in the company to 44 percent, the report says.

Meanwhile, Vodafone has had its controversial US$900 million acquisition of Ghana Telecom approved by the Ghanaian government. First announced in July, the deal faced strong opposition in the Ghanaian parliament and was only approved after Vodafone reportedly made several guarantees, including a reassurance that it would spend US$500 million on upgrading the network. Ghana Telecom is the country’s fixed-line incumbent and third-largest mobile phone operator.