Cingular has made a surprise bid of $41 billion in cash to acquire AT&T Wireless, edging out British carrier Vodafone in the auction to buy the nation's third-largest wireless carrier.

If successful, the deal would vault Cingular from its perch as the second-largest wireless provider in the U.S. to the largest with 55 million subscribers, while hastening the expected consolidation in the U.S. wireless industry.

British carrier Vodafone declined to further the bidding war after reportedly offering $38 billion for AT&T Wireless. In a statement, Vodafone said it pulled out of the auction process for AT&T Wireless after "concluding it was no longer in shareholder's best interests" to continue bidding. NTT DoCoMo , a minority stakeholder in AT&T Wireless, and Nextel, once thought to be a possible suitors, dropped out of the running on Friday.