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.

Down 3% which is a lot higher than the divi atm.

the div is over 3% div 6.05p down 5.07p but will be over 200p in 3 months

I have three ex divi today but not worried PM will improve SP's

vod to get 4.6b div from vir end june

Edit to my post #174, yes I agree, 3% is approx the divi correction, and sp now recovering.

is vod going to up interim div to 6p ? i say yes

I say no.

End of the day no.

have topped up with enogh 41000. today

Not convinced the downtrend has been reversed yet, particularly as it looks like the whole market is correcting over the summer months. Short term bounce possibly, but the graph is negative, imo.

i am in for divs over the next 2 years are not selling just adding

none of my buys have shown .

i see my buys on the plus market now added 53345 today

Shorters will have the FTSE again today

You're right. Sorry that the anticipated VOD bounce pm yesterday didn't happen, but maybe next week will see a step up once the US payroll figures are out of the way.

Correct harry good time to top up on dips oversold imho. Same with NG.

Chart support at 160p? After that, maybe down to 150p?

Tanker gotta be hurtin...glad i'm out.,.

baler i sold at 163.010p on the 20th

i am now looking at sbry want 325p