(Adds details, background; Liberty Global Q4 results)
Feb 15 (Reuters) - UK phone network operator Vodafone Plc and John Malone's cable company Liberty Global Plc agreed on Monday to combine their operations in theNetherlands for a better footing in the local market.
Vodafone will pay 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) in cash toLiberty as part of the agreement to combine its mobileoperations with Liberty's fiber broadband network Ziggo in a50-50 joint venture, the companies said in a statement.
"Together we will be a stronger competitor in theNetherlands", Vodafone Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said inthe statement.
Vodafone has faced increasing pressure in national marketsfrom former national telecoms network monopolies like DeutscheTelekom, Telefonica, KPN and BT, which are able to sell packages of broadband Internet,TV and mobile telecoms services.
U.S.-based Liberty's Ziggo is the largest cable TV operatorin the Netherlands, while Vodafone is the second-biggest mobilenetwork operator, behind KPN.
The companies said they would see run-rate savings of 280million euros per year from the fifth year after the closing ofthe deal, which they expect towards the end of 2016.
Earlier this month, Vodafone said it was in limited talkswith Liberty about a joint venture in the Netherlands, after thecompanies could not agree on a tie-up or exchange of assets lastyear, a deal that could have covered as many as seven Europeanmarkets.
Separately, Liberty also reported total revenue of $4.60billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 3.8 percent drop from ayear earlier year. In the Netherlands, the company's revenuerose to $672.6 million, up 19.6 percent from the prior yearquarter.
($1 = 0.8951 euros) (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by LeslieAdler and Dan Grebler)
Vodafone (VOD)