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.

When's Ex. divi day chaps?

Think it was june 5th but stand to be corrected.,.

ex divi 1 jun according to halifax webpage

Ex-Div 01-Jun-11, Paid 05-Aug-11, Amount 6.05p

t'anks tanks! ...... first barrier of 172.25 broken so last barrier at about 174.25 (50 dma) is the next important target

calm down dear.,.

Divi coming up but we are firmly through the 200 DMA. Tricky to call atm, but sp seems comfortable at 165/167p level, but not sure what will happen post divi.

my thoughts to this morning, looks like 172 is as high as this will get...Tankers 185p not coming I think.,.

Topped up at 168.05 today Made a good few quid yesterday with my HMV,YELL,DXNS shorts.

so you think theres more to come bernard??

While Nomura leaves its target price for Vodafone at 210p, the broker downgrades the telecoms giant from 'buy' to 'neutral', saying that "customer lifetime value [is] heading in the wrong direction."

"Despite the push on smartphones, European mobile momentum is heading south. Both O2 and KPN management have now admitted that the move to smartphones has not been positive for customer lifetime value. Despite Vodafone's protestations to the contrary, Vodafone is not immune to the sector's momentum," the broker said.

Furthermore, the broker estimates that "tougher regulation alone (mobile termination rate cuts in the UK and Italy, data roaming caps across Europe) should reduce European revenue growth by at least 100 basis points in Vodafone's first half."

In spite of spending over 2.5 billion of shareholders funds on share buy backs the sp has fallen from 180p on 15/2/2011 to its current level of around 168p.Shares are constantly being transferred into their employees pension fund presumably to be sold in the market thus depressing the sp.Although shares are being bought back they are subsequently held in treasury and are not cancelled so their is no benefit to shareholders. Shortly they intend to start a further share buy back of 4.8 billion from sale proceeds of the sale of SFR to Vivendi, whereas these funds could have been used to pay shareholders an increased dividend or capital repayment. Isn't it time shareholders took the BOD to task and demand that the management explain what they are doing in their interest?

hal . quite correct it is time for action

have just added 20145 at 169095p

ex div 4.30 tomorrow 6.05p

The stock is ex-dividend as of 08.00 hrs on wednesday, at which time I would expect the sp to drop in line with the divi percentage. After that it will be tricky to predict the direction, imo, especially as the sp is drifting down anyway.

seems to be going no where and agree with you harry, will make a decision before 4.30 today but think i shall only break even if lucky.,.

Question gentlemen, if I put this on a stop loss order for tomorrow, which I will presumably get, will I also get the div?

Yes, but on open the sp will drop like a stone and probably lose more than the div's worth. If your lucky with some shares you get a bounce and recoupe but don't think that will happen with vod. aimo.,.

Bb has pretty much covered all the angles. If VOD gets marked down at the open by the divi percentage though, your stop loss may not trigger.
Difficult decision now. Get out before divi and take advantage of current sp or wait to get divi but at a probable reduced sp.