The audacious bid by Vodafone, the UK's largest mobile phone operator, for US mobile operator AirTouch has sent telecommunications shares surging.

If the $62bn (£37.5bn) deal goes ahead, Vodafone AirTouch will become the world's largest mobile phone company and larger than BT by market capitalisation.

Telecoms was already the top-performing sector on the London Stock Exchange in 1998, with share prices almost doubling – and City tipsters predict that telecoms stocks will again out-perform the market in 1999.