NTL raised its offer from £817m to £920m, and most of Virgin Mobile institutional investors have said that are they willing to accept the offer, according to reports.
But it will mean that Branson, whose Virgin Group owns 72% of Virgin Mobile, will receive £42m less than he would have done, because the company has agreed to accept a cash and share deal. It values Virgin Mobile shares at 349p each, while the institutional investors in the company will receive 372p in cash for each share.
NTL will now undertake due diligence before the bid goes through. If successful the cable firm, will rebrand as Virgin Media.
If the merger takes place, it would create the UK's only "quadruple-play" provider, combining NTL's TV, broadband and telephony offering with the mobile network. This will allow it to offer customers a single bill for a complete range of services.
The deal is seen as a threat to BSkyB because it creates a rival company with more service offers than Sky, using the valuable Virgin brand and with a base of 10m customers.
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