Vodafone has denied it paid £30m to take over Manchester-based telecoms reseller Yes Telecom.Vodafone announced the deal last month and has said it chose to become the majority shareholder in Yes Telecom to buff up its business presence.According to a spokeswoman for the mobile giant, the figure quoted in the press for the deal is "way off the mark". It's thought Vodafone paid considerably less for the B2B operator.Yes was set up in September 2000 and Keith Curran, Managing Director spoke proudly earlier this week of his company’s success.“In such a competitive and changing industry, it is a great achievement for us to have come so far in just under six years."“The positive position of the company is testament to the staff, who have worked hard over the years.”“I look forward to working with our buyer and driving the business to even greater heights,” he added.Yes is an independent provider of mobile phone airtime and was founded with just eight members of staff. It began by targeting business customers. It has grown into a company with 110 members of staff, and achieved sales of £40m in 2005, a rise of £26m on the previous 12 months.David Clinch, Mace & Jones solicitors, advised on the acquisition. He said: “This was a tremendously exciting deal to work on. It reflects Manchester’s booming economy and is proof of the enormous talent within the city’s innovative small firms community.”When asked if the company would continue trading under the ‘Yes’ brand, Clinch replied, “As far as I am aware it will continue trading as Yes Telecom after the sale.”Yes provides services to more than 300 businesses in the UK and; for some time, has had successful partnerships with Vodafone and T-Mobile. It supplies mobile phone service such as handsets, email-on-the-move and 3G data cards.Yes has also won a series of industry awards in the past couple of years, which raised it’s profile in the industry. A source at Vodafone commented: “Yes Telecom is important for us going forward.”Vodafone's spokeswoman also reassured that Yes Telecom would not be changing after its buyout. "We're going to be very arm's length," she commented. "We're not looking to manage them or redirect them." The six-year-old company has more than 100 staff and sells phone and data services to more than 250 enterprises.
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