A TELECOM company based in Oxfordshire has merged with a larger firm in a 39m deal.

MNS, of Kingston Bagpuize, was bought for 24m by JWE Telecom, of Leeds.

It will be business as usual for MNS, which will keep its employees and maintain current business activities at its Oxfordshire call centre. It will keep its corporate identity and provide billing services for the new JWE.

A new switching system ordered by MNS before the merger will be used to offer business customers their own telephone exchange.

JWE will employ 480 staff, with call centres in York, Manchester, Leeds and Oxfordshire, plus 23 shops and 14 sales offices throughout Britain.

The deal has brought 14m of new cash into the new combined company from a share issue with institutional investors.

Chief executive Tony Farmer said: "We are building a company at the forefront of the convergence revolution providing products and services spanning voice and data, fixed line and mobile, Internet and airtime in a single integrated offering to our customers."

Mr Farmer said: "We have all the ingredients in place and the resources to grow our market share and become a much larger player covering the whole of the UK."

The chairman of MNS, Bob Kennedy, will become chairman of JWE. MNS managing director John Wood becomes network services director of JWE.