MILAN/PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Vimpelcom andHutchison agreed to combine their Italian mobileoperations in a 50-50 joint venture in a long-awaited deal toconsolidate Europe's fourth-largest telecom market.
The companies promised that the deal would deliver costsavings worth more than 5 billion euros, most of which wouldcome from combining the two mobile networks.
The new company would have more than 31 million mobilecustomers and 2.8 million fixed-line customers, they said in ajoint statement on Thursday.
It will compete with Telecom Italia and Vodafone in a market reduced to three players if regulatorsapprove the deal.
"The combined entity will have significant footprint and thedeal will accelerate innovation and investment in Italy sincethe joint venture will be better positioned to compete,"Vimpelcom CEO Jean-Yves Charlier said at a news conference.
The companies expect the deal to close in 12 months ifantitrust authorities wave it through.
Maximo Ibarra, the current chief executive of Vimpelcom'sItalian unit called Wind, will lead the new entity. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud; editing by JasonNeely)