VODAFONE is looking to sell off its phone mast division just days after French telcos giant Xavier Niel snapped up a stake in the firm.

According to reports from This is Money, the £12bn sale could clear the company's £36m debt and ignite investor confidence in the beleaguered stock, which has tumbled nearly 14 per cent in the last six months.

Analysts at Bernstein said that the sale of the mast firm, Vantage Towers, which floated in Frankfurt last year, would allow the FTSE 100 company to remove £2.2bn of debt from the balance sheet and provide more than £6bn in cash. Vodafone boss Nick Read has been under pressure to streamline from activist investor Cevian Capital.

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