Virgin Mobile's board has rejected NTL's bid to takeover the company.

The £817m offer was rejected as the board thought that it had undervalued the company, although industry insiders think that this may be a ploy to force NTL to increase the offer, or that other bids may be forthcoming from other sources.

Although Richard Branson owns 72% of Virgin Mobile though his Virgin Group and therefore has the power to make any decisions himself, he has decided to let the rest of the board make it's decision. His representative on the Virgin Mobile board therefore absented himself from the decision to reject NTL's approach.