LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The telecoms regulator on Thursday fined the Greek unit of UK mobile giant Vodafone 19.1 mln eur for violating network regulations in a wire-tapping scandal that rocked the country last year.

The fine is the second handed to Vodafone Hellas over the case after a 76 mln eur penalty levelled by Greece's communication privacy watchdog last December.

Some 100 Vodafone cellphones in February 2006 were found to have been compromised by an illicit network that tapped sets used by Greek Premier Costas Karamanlis, his wife and several ministers from June 2004 to March 2005.

The tapping used software slipped into Vodafone's network by unknown perpetrators to illegally activate an Ericsson-made module permitting call interception.

On Thursday, the national telecommunications regulator EETT accused Vodafone of breaching regulations on the protection of telecommunications privacy, network maintenance and quality, and consumer protection.

The company rejected last December's fine as 'illegal, unfair and baseless.'

A Greek parliament committee collecting evidence on the case last November noted the involvement of three employees of telecoms giants Ericsson Hellas and Vodafone Greece, identified only by their initials.

'The whole system could not operate without Ericsson know-how and without access from within (Vodafone),' the report said.

The Greek branch of Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson has also been fined 7.36 mln eur over the case.

The parliamentary committee did not rule out the involvement of other people operating outside Greece.

The Greek justice department has opened an investigation into the case but nobody has yet been charged.

Days before the affair came to light, a senior Vodafone expert was found hanged inside his home.

The death of Costas Tsalikidis, manager of Vodafone Greece's network planning section, was linked to the case and his family suspects he was murdered.

Halifax,

Because (a) they're cash rich and can therefore afford to do it and (b) because it helps to stave off unwelcome potential suitors.

hil VOD like many companies is run for the benefit of directors and staff not for the benefit of shareholders, if they have surplus cash resources then they should either be invested in the business or paid out to shareholders by way of dividends or capital repayments. The directors seem to have forgotten (conveniently) that shareholders own the company.

Halifax - have a read here - Vodafone boss in secret talks with Verizon over dividends

Slightly old news.

Vodafone 'close to selling SFR stake to Vivendi'

skin buying back shares not cancelling them, transferring them to treasury and then putting them in the directors and staff pension fund does nothing for shareholders. Another billion or two down the drain.

Half Yearly Report.

VODAFONE ANNOUNCES H1 2010/11 RESULTS AND STRATEGY UPDATE

Strong results: Improved revenue growth, upgraded full year profit guidance

Q2 Group organic service revenue growth of +2.3% - with improved revenue trends in all regions

H1 EBITDA margin 32.6% - trend in line with expectations

Strong performance at Verizon Wireless

Full year guidance for adjusted operating profit increased to 11.8 billion to 12.2 billion

Free cash flow guidance confirmed to be in excess of 6.5 billion

Accelerated realisation of SoftBank interests for 3.1 billion

Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile Phones Come Together to Announce 4G LTE Business Solutions

Vodafone Grp. (LSE:VOD)

Today : Wednesday 5 January 2011
Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile Phones announced today the LG WM300 LTE module and LG L2000 modem chip will be available on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network. Providing high-speed, wireless connectivity, LG WM300 and LG L2000 deliver revolutionary LTE technology to consumers looking to stay connected while on the go.

The LG module and chipset are compatible with Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, and are applicable to machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions such as fixed wireless applications, including gateway devices and telematics. The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, launched in December 2010, is the fastest, most advanced 4G network in the United States, providing speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless' 3G network. Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network currently reaches one-third of all Americans, with plans to expand the network to the company's entire 3G coverage area over the next three years.

The LG WM300 LTE module is the result of a three-year collaboration between LG Mobile Phones and Verizon Wireless' LTE Innovation Center. Established in 2008, the LTE Innovation Center provides an environment for diverse companies to work together to develop innovative products that leverage 4G LTE technology.

LG's WM300 LTE module will be highlighted from Jan. 6-9 in Verizon Wireless' booth (#35216 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center) and LG Electronics' booth (#8205 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center). For more information about the LTE Innovation Center and Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network, visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte.

Vodafone upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley, TP raised to 225p from 190p
StockMarketWire.com


Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Samuel Jonah, Non Executive Director, bought 55,350 shares in the company on the 9th March 2011 at a price of 180.50p

VOD in their latest RNS include treasury shares as being in issue whereas in the past they have been excluded, Treasuy shares are mainly those bought in the market with shareholders funds instead of cancelling these shares, and using these funds to pay an increased dividend. What is going on here, is today's announcement of the purchase of Essar minority shares anything to do with this, are shareholders going to be taken for another ride?

tanks - chart looks pretty horrid so why are you buying?

I doubt this will help the price atm?

cynic . because they are a good bet good divs and growth and buy back .
it is simples .gift in 6 weeks they will be over 200p .

that's the sort of call i'ld have expected from that ass TA! .... for sure the company won't go belly up and one could argue that +/-170 offers good support - 167 is 200 dma line too

tree is being severely shaken today.

I do not play the market to lose money .that is why i am rich and lazy

big orders are being worked on here and at mrw .mms have a good job .
when they have been filled you will no.

So this has nothing to do with today's fall ?

India Securities Ltd. (500204.BY) Thursday said a court has cleared its merger with Essar Telecommunications Holdings Pvt. Ltd., with the judge saying that Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN) has no right to oppose the proposal.

The Madras High Court's ruling follows its rejection of Vodafone's plea opposing the merger of the two Essar Group companies.

Essar was U.K.-based Vodafone's Indian partner in the Vodafone Essar Ltd. joint venture.

A spokesman for Vodafone Essar declined to comment, while executives at Vodafone weren't immediately available.

Vodafone and the Essar Group have been locked in a battle over how the Indian conglomerate would exit the joint venture.

On March 31, Vodafone said it has agreed to pay $5 billion to buy out the Essar group's 33% stake in the Indian venture. As part of the deal, the Essar Group agreed to exercise its right to sell a 22% stake to Vodafone while the British company exercised its right to buy a further 11% stake held by Essar. Both companies didn't disclose further terms of the deal.

The Essar Group owns 10.97% of Vodafone Essar through its India-registered unit Essar Telecommunications Holdings. The group wants to wants to merge Essar Telecommunications Holdings into listed but little-known India Securities to help put a value on its stake in the joint venture with Vodafone.

But Vodafone objects, saying it is concerned that the value of India Securities after the merger could be misinterpreted as a fair market value for the unlisted Vodafone-Essar.

Vodafone has a pact with the Essar Group, which gives the Indian conglomerate a put option for its 33% stake that it can sell to the U.K. company for $5 billion between the third and fourth years of the deal's completion.

The alternative is that Essar Group could have sold shares in the venture worth between $1 billion and $5 billion to Vodafone at a market-determined price, to be evaluated by two investment bankers, with one each appointed by the two parties.

In the case of a dispute over the valuation, a third banker would be appointed jointly by the companies to make a final decision on the worth of the stake.

Under the second option, Vodafone would need to pay an additional $725 million over the market-determined price--as agreed by the two parties--to account for the extra debt that Vodafone Essar has due to its investments in third-generation mobile operations, including the $2.8 billion it paid to get the bandwidth.

Earlier Thursday, the Press Trust of India reported that the Madras court had also rejected the objection of India's income tax department against the proposed merger.

It will be interesting to see if Verizon's tripled Q1 profit has much effect.

Yes VOD SP has dropped further. ???