The battle raged for a decade in Britain, but both sides were fighting for far larger stakes-the claim to an empire. As the contest drew to a close, the two chiefs hewed to a time-honored script, dispatching emissaries to hammer out the terms of surrender of one side to the other. First came the bankers, taxiing through April downpours in the City of London. Then came the lawyers. And finally, on Apr. 30, when the details were settled, Vodafone Group PLC's Christopher C. Gent met with the boss of his debt-ridden rival, British Telecommunications plc's Sir Peter Bonfield. Giving him an IOU for $5.3 billion, Gent laid claim to bt's portion of the jewel they previously shared, Japan Telecom Co. and its mobile subsidiary, J-Phone.
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机译：这场战斗在英国进行了十年，但是双方都在争夺更大的赌注-要求建立一个帝国。比赛临近尾声，两位酋长听从了历史悠久的剧本，派遣使节来敲定向另一方投降的条款。首先是银行家，他们在伦敦金融城度过了四月的暴雨。然后是律师。最后，在4月30日解决细节之后，沃达丰集团（Vodafone Group PLC）的克里斯托弗·C·根特（Christopher C. Gent）会见了负债累累的竞争对手英国电信（British Telecommunications plc）的彼得·邦菲尔德爵士（Sir Peter Bonfield）。根特（Gent）以53亿美元的价格向他开具欠条，要求他们对bt先前共享的珠宝日本电信公司及其移动子公司J-Phone的部分提出索赔。
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