NTL, fresh from completing its merger with fellow cable television company Telewest, is expected this week to announce the recommended takeover of Virgin Mobile.

The deal, which first became public last November, is thought to value the mobile-phone company at about £961m. NTL is understood to be preparing to offer 372p a share to the minority shareholders in Virgin Mobile.

The terms of the takeover are said to be almost identical to those outlined in January.

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which holds a 71% stake in its mobile offshoot, is expected to accept a mixture of cash and stock that will convert into shares in NTL.

In an unusual move, Branson has agreed to use some of his cash receipts to fund a higher offer for minority shareholders. He will become one of the largest shareholders in a media and telecommunications company that is likely to adopt the Virgin brand. It will be able to offer its customers the “quadruple-play” of television, telephony, broadband and mobile.

Separately, Branson will tomorrow launch Virgin Mobile in France, a joint venture with Charles Dunstone’s Carphone Warehouse. The business will take on the customers of Breizh, the “virtual” mobile network operator that Carphone launched in Brittany in 2004.

Like Breizh, Virgin Mobile will piggyback off Orange’s French network. It will seek customers through Virgin’s Megastores in France and through Carphone’s chain of 220 shops, which trade under the name The Phone House.

Analysts believe France is one of the most attractive European markets for virtual operators such as Virgin. Besides Orange, it has only two mobile companies, SFR and Bouygues. This presents opportunities for aggressive new entrants.

Virgin Mobile pioneered the “virtual” model in Britain, and it quickly became one of Branson’s biggest successes. He has since launched mobile businesses in America, Canada and Australia.

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