NEW YORK—Verizon Communications agreed Monday to buy out Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in its giant wireless unit in a $130 billion (U.S.) transaction, realigning the global telecommunications landscape in one of the biggest deals on record.

The deal represents the end of a 14-year joint venture between the British and American companies, and is the culmination of years of speculation that Vodafone would sell its stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest cellphone operator in the United States.

Opinion has been divided on whether the deal will cool Verizon’s interest in a potential entry into the Canadian market.

When news first hit of the looming deal first hit last week, Dvai Ghose, head of research at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a note to clients, “If negotiations between Verizon and Vodafone are really heating up, we believe that the prospects of a Verizon entry into Canadian wireless could decline significantly.”

But David Heger, telecommunications industry analyst at Edward Jones, said Verizon’s decision on entering the Canadian market “will come down to whether they feel like there’s a good business opportunity in Canada where they can earn a sufficient return on investment.”

New York-based Verizon said in June it was weighing a bid to buy Wind Mobile, the largest of three new Ontario-based carriers.

On Monday, Vodafone’s chief executive, Vittorio Colao, told reporters, “After years of talks, we received an offer that was good value for shareholders.

“It was a good move for both partners and we were able to find the right price.”

The complex cash-and-stock deal includes a $58.9 billion cash component, as well as a further $60.2 billion in Verizon shares. The American company also will hand Vodafone its current 23 per cent holding in Vodafone Italy for $3.5 billion, as part of a series of smaller transactions connected to the deal.

The deal comes at a critical time for the industry. The American wireless business has seen a gradual slowdown in subscriber growth in the past few years, because many people who want a cellphone already have one. In the second quarter, the growth rate of the American wireless market was 2.2 per cent — the first time it has ever fallen below 2.5 per cent, said Craig Moffett, an analyst for Moffett Research.

The big U.S. carriers, including Verizon, have said newer devices like tablets would help drive growth. But Moffett said about 90 per cent of the tablets that people are buying only connect to Wi-Fi networks, not cellular connections. For wireless carriers, other markets for potential growth include cars or home security systems. But it is unclear whether those revenue streams will drive much growth for the industry.

“All those futuristic visions are almost certainly real,” Moffett said. “The question is whether they are big enough to really move the needle for an industry the size of the U.S. wireless market.”

But in general, the American wireless market is more stable and lucrative than others around the world, said Jan Dawson, a telecom analyst for Ovum. “It’s well worth Verizon’s continued investment,” he said.

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The challenge for Verizon will be demonstrating a return on its investment. Part of that return could come from Verizon bundling its wireless and wireline products into more attractive deals for consumers, Dawson said. But the rest of it will come from being able to access all of Verizon Wireless’s profits rather than only part through the dividends that were shared with Vodafone.

The deal does give Vodafone a huge war chest, and could have a big effect on the European telecommunications industry, which has been faced with lackluster earnings and increased international competition — even as regulators push for carriers to invest in new, high-speed data networks that would put consumers and business customers on a more equal digital footing with data users in the United States and the most advanced parts of Asia, like South Korea.

It all depends on how Vodafone decides to use its money. On Monday, the British company said it planned to spend around $10 billion over three years in high-speed cellphone and broadband services across its markets in Europe and the developing world.

It would use another $20 billion from the sale of its Verizon Wireless stake to reduce its debt burden, but Colao said the company could still look to complete further acquisitions if it found the right targets.

“If we find good opportunities, we would look at those assets,” Colao said.

So far, mobile phone giants like Vodafone and Telefónica of Spain have sought to cement their positions across Europe by expanding into other technology areas, like cable television and Internet broadband, to offer consumer so-called bundled services.

But because of the fragmented mobile phone market, subject to cutthroat price competition, big players like Vodafone have less cash flow to work with than their American counterparts. In total, Europeans spend an average $38 a month on their wireless contracts, compared with $69 in the United States, according to the GSM Association, a trade group.

More than a hundred cellphone operators are currently active across Europe, compared with around five large carriers in the United States and three major carriers in Canada. Analysts believe Vodafone’s capital windfall, coupled with the broader challenges facing the industry, could spur a new round of takeover activity in many of Europe’s largest markets.

Market analysts add that Europe’s cellphone sector has increasingly become saturated. Many customers are already locked into long-term contracts, and the continent’s largest telecommunications companies have shifted from aggressive expansion plans to defensive strategies to retain market share.

“They are hunkering down in the current market,” said Steven Hartley, head of the industry, communications and broadband team at the analyst firm Ovum in London. “The bulk of any new acquisitions will be spent in areas where they already are present.”

Shares in Vodafone rose 3.4 percent in London on Monday.

With files from Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew