BARCELONA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The chief executive ofVodafone underlined the benefits of the company's planto work with Liberty Global in the Netherlands, anarrangement being closely watched by analysts and investors whohope the two firms will one day reach a wider deal.
Vodafone was in talks last year with John Malone's Libertyabout asset swaps or other tie-ups in Europe, which potentiallywould have enabled allow both to offer a richer package of TV,broadband and mobile in countries like Britain and Germany.
Those talks collapsed, but a more limited joint venture inthe Netherlands was agreed earlier this month.
"If we work well with Liberty of course it's much betterthan if we don't, and if we get used to our own differentcultures, it is of course an enrichment and a positive,"Vittorio Colao told journalists at the Mobile World Conferencein Barcelona on Monday.
He said, however, that every country and every situation hadto be looked at on its own merits.
Analyst Sam Dhillon at RBC Capital Markets said on Mondaythat Vodafone and Liberty Global should extend the joint venturemodel to Britain.
But he said a deal would only come after a review of BT's fixed-line infrastructure arm Openreach is completed --findings are due on Thursday -- and European regulators rule onHutchison's purchase of Telefonica's O2.
In the case of BT, Colao said he wanted the regulator toeither recommend that the company should be split up, orinstead, impose much tighter obligations on Openreach in termsof performance and price.
Vodafone recently launched fixed-line broadband usingOpenreach's network.
"We are getting a decent amount of customers each month, andwhen we are ready we will launch our own content-rich TV offer,"Colao said, but he added the company had not yet struck thecontent deals it wanted.
"For the time being we have not reached an agreement withBT," he said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Keith Weir)