British telecoms giant Vodafone announced the sale of its wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary to an investment consortium yesterday  in a deal worth NZ$3.4 billion (US$2.2 billion).

It said Vodafone New Zealand—the country’s second-largest telecoms carrier and its biggest mobile phone operator—would be sold to Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and Wellington-based infrastructure operator Infratil.

It said the New Zealand firm would continue to use the Vodafone brand and have preferential agreements with the British telecom firm in areas such as global roaming, procurement and access to tech platforms.

“We have always been proud of our Vodafone New Zealand business, which has a great team,” Vodafone Group chief executive Nick Read said.

“We look forward to a continued close relationship through our partner market agreement.”

Vodafone began operating in New Zealand in 1998 and currently has more than 40 percent of the mobile market, according to data

from the Commerce Commission.