Hutchison and Vodafone are merging their businesses in Australia to form a 50:50 joint venture. The Vodafone and 3 networks will become part of a company named VHA that'll use Vodafone branding for its Australian operations. The new company will have a toal of approximately 6 million customers. As part of the merger, Vodafone - which currently has the larger customer base - will receive 500 million Australian dollars from VHA. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2009, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. [Press release]