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.

Vodafone to end McLaren sponsorship this year

MELBOURNE | Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:13am IST

(Reuters) - British mobile operator Vodafone will end its seven-year title sponsorship of Formula One team McLaren at the end of the 2013 season, the team confirmed on Thursday.

The Financial Times had earlier cited a Vodafone spokesman as saying the sponsorship, which started in 2007 and was worth up to $75 million a year, was being ended following a review of marketing strategy.

Liberum Capital Buy 182.23 182.25 - 210.00 Reiterates

Citigroup Buy 183.20 183.25 180.00 215.00 Upgrades

Citigroup lifts Vodafone to buy from neutral, target price 215p from 180p.

Questor share tip: Hold the line for news on Vodafone's US stake
Speculation about Vodafone's Verizon Wireless stake is mounting. Questor says hold.


There's a general feeling that the debate about the future of Vodafone’s US mobile venture is now coming to a head. A sale could provide Vodafone with almost £90bn in cash but what would it do with the proceeds?

Vodafone owns 45pc of Verizon Wireless, the US’s largest mobile operator, with Verizon Communications holding the 55pc majority stake. Vodafone’s chief executive, Vittorio Colao, has been exiting stakes in businesses where he does not have control, such as SFR in France, so speculation over a deal has been around for some time.

There are, of course a number of options. These include a full merger of the two partners or a part sale of the stake to Verizon. Alternatively, Vodafone could exit the US altogether or maintain the status quo and benefit from the cashflows.

There are good reasons for arguing that a sale would be in the interest of Vodafone shareholders. The FTSE 100 telecom giant has a market capitalisation of £94.4bn, with a figure of approaching £90bn being touted as the value of a full sale of its US stake. This implies that the value of a broken up Vodafone would be far greater than the current value the market puts on the company as a whole. A break up could be a positive catalyst for the value to be unlocked.

One major issue for Vodafone would be tax. The implications are not exactly clear, with Société Générale arguing that the transaction would be tax free for Verizon, with Vodafone liable to pay capital gains tax on the cash received. The bank estimated that the tax would be in the £21.3bn to £30bn range for a full sale. The French broker also argues that Vodafone would be able to defer capital gains tax on any Verizon equity received as part of a deal. There would be a tax liability when the shares are eventually sold.

However, Citigroup reckons that Vodafone would not be liable to pay a significant amount of the capital gains tax if the transaction were conducted offshore.

Vodafone’s core European markets are challenged by the economic situation, something which caused the shares to plunge at the end of last year. This issue makes a full merger less likely. Why would US investors in a booming business want to take on these troubled European operations?

So, the only possibilities apart from the status quo are the sale of part of the venture or a full exit.

The main issue for Questor is the fact that the dividend streams from Verizon Wireless are likely to become more frequent, providing a degree of security to Vodafone’s own dividend payments. Investors have already seen what can happen when a company shrinks at Aviva, which sold its US business, a move which crimped its cashflows and eventually led to its dividend being slashed.

So, what would Vodafone do with the cash if it sold the stake? Investors would want a chunk but where would the cash be deployed to find growth? Management would struggle to find an investment such as Verizon Wireless that would deliver significant cashflows over coming years at such a low risk to the business. So, although there is much speculation, a deal is not certain. However, the debate has served to highlight the value of the group’s US operations and bring the shares back from their slide last year.

Trading on a current year earnings multiple of 12.6 falling to 11.6, Questor rates the shares a hold.

Citigroup Buy 187.40 187.20 215.00 215.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Overweight 187.40 187.20 205.00 205.00 Retains

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 193.10 186.60 200.00 200.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Hold 193.10 186.60 173.00 173.00 Reiterates

According to usually reliable people, Verizon Communications and AT&T have been working on putting together a breakup bid for Vodafone. They say the offer under discussion, should it happen, would be pitched at around a 40 per cent premium to Vodafone’s current price, or about 260p a share.

Such a bid would give Vodafone an enterprise value of around $245bn. That would dwarf the previous M&A record holder, AOL’s $182bn takeover of Time Warner in 2000, and would nearly double the total value of global M&A for the year so far. It would, in every sense, be a rather big deal.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/04/02/1443352/vodafone-verizon-a-245bn-solution/

NICE

Verizon Communications

Vodafone Group Plc ("Vodafone")

Verizon Communications Inc. ("Verizon") notes the recent press speculation regarding a potential merger with or purchase by Verizon of Vodafone. As Verizon has said many times, it would be a willing purchaser of the 45% stake that Vodafone holds in Verizon Wireless. It does not, however, currently have any intention to merge with or make an offer for Vodafone, whether alone or in conjunction with others.

Thats the end of that then... Hope you didn't buy anymore when it up at a premium Skinny...

No Shortie - neither did I sell any.

No me neither. Must admit though equities held in me ISA for yield are often overlooked and forgotton about when it comes to selling. I bought the likes of LGEN back when it was 50-60p a stock so now at well over 100% profit but I'm interested in selling due to the yield I'm currently getting.

DeutscheBank comment today:
"Time for VOD to speak -
VZ’s statement follows an intense period of press speculation (Bloomberg etc) surrounding the VOD/VZ relationship since the beginning of the year. All reports seem to have been sourced from ‘insiders close to the deal’, or ‘reliable sources’ and it seems VOD’s share price has responded, +25% ytd and a 16% sector outperformer. Given this, our view is that VOD should comment, as per VZ, and make clear its stance on its Verizon Wireless (VZW) stake.
A VZW sale still depends on tax
Our long held view is that a VZW stake sale would need to overcome VOD’s outstanding tax liability that could be worth a deal-breaking 2-3x EBITDA within any offer multiple. While we could envisage Verizon bidding 9x EBITDA (though an increase to 2.5x leverage, with c. 50% share issuance) we would not expect VOD to accept a post tax multiple of 6x for a significant stake in what is arguable the premier telco asset on the planet.
Status quo is perhaps most likely, but also makes most sense
With the above in mind, then unless a structure can be built to avoid what VOD’s CFO described to us as a ‘practically unavoidable’ tax bill, then status quo might be the more likely scenario right now. Actually so it should be, from a VOD shareholder perspective; Our view is that terms from VZ are unlikely to change on a 12m view, but that Verizon wireless EBITDA would be 10% higher (based on DBe), VOD would receive a dividend in the meanwhile and would also enjoy the USD-turbocharged earnings from its VZW associate stake at the group level while working to turn around the slump in European assets. Furthermore there can be no doubt that VOD has much to learn from its boardroom-level exposure to VZW, and our view is that the recent launch of ED tariffs is a clear nod to the unlimited ‘bucket-style’ offers in the US that have disaggregated the price per minute arbitrage that has injected deflation into the European telco space.
Reiterate HOLD
Our view is that VOD’s European strategy is compromised through a lack of fixed line ownership that must be addressed rapidly to avoid market share loss in the face of convergent services. HOLD ahead of record quarterly revenue decline through Q4, with risk mitigated by its exposure to VZW growth."

Adoption of new IFRS for year ending 31 March 2014

LONDON-- Telecommunications groups Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN) and China Mobile Ltd Thursday jointly announced that they have signed an agreement to form a consortium to bid for a mobile telecommunications licence in Myanmar. MAIN FACTS: -The two new licenses will authorize the licence holders to build, own and operate a mobile network on a nationwide basis for an initial term of 15 years. -The Vodafone-China Mobile pre-qualification application has been submitted to the Myanmar authorities in line with the submission deadline of April 4, 2013. -Further details of the proposed Vodafone-China Mobile consortium will be announced in due course. -Vodafone shares at 1006 GMT, up 1.1 pence, or 0.6%, at 187 pence valuing the company at GBP91.6 billion.

Good old yanks - Verizon: Sounding The Alarm On Dividend Safety

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 189.60 190.55 220.00 225.00 Reiterates

HSBC Overweight 0.00 189.90 205.00 230.00 Retains

Deutsche Bank Hold 0.00 189.90 173.00 180.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Overweight 0.00 189.90 205.00 205.00 Retains

VODAFONE RED EXPANDED ACROSS 14 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES!

VODAFONE RED TO TRANSFORM CONSUMER AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE OF MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS ACROSS 14 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES


Vodafone today announced the expansion of its Vodafone Red customer proposition to cover a total of 14 European markets, together with the addition of new and compelling customer options.

Vodafone Red offers European consumers and businesses one integrated service plan with:

· unlimited calls and text messages to any network in the customer's home country;
· very generous mobile data allowances; and
· world-class cloud and online protection services to back up and secure personal data available across Vodafone's leading-edge mobile networks.

In addition, by the end of 2013 Vodafone customers across all 14 European markets will benefit from further innovations, including:

· multi-device plans, enabling customers to connect a smartphone and tablet under one Vodafone Red plan, making it simple and cost effective to own and manage multiple devices under a single bill;
· family plans, allowing individual family members to sign up to a Vodafone Red package at a discounted price;
· a wider range of device choices, giving customers the freedom to have a new device included in the cost of their contract, receive a discount by choosing a 'nearly new' smartphone or choose to receive a new device every year for a small extra fee;
· industry-leading roaming plans for Vodafone Red customers travelling in Europe, giving them the freedom to make calls, send texts and use data worry-free, for an additional daily price of around €3;
· more safe and secure solutions, including world-class cloud and backup services and device insurance, giving customers peace of mind in the event of theft or damage for a small additional monthly fee; and
· the very best of the Vodafone network experience, including options to connect to new, ultra-fast 4G services where available.

With 14 countries on the same platform, Vodafone Red is Vodafone's largest multi-country marketing campaign for five years.

Vodafone Group Chief Commercial Officer Morten Lundal said: "Vodafone Red is the best of everything from Vodafone. It is what any smartphone or tablet owner would want. We know customers are looking for the freedom to communicate with confidence in order to help them with their increasingly complex mobile lives. Vodafone Red has been built from the ground up to meet the demanding needs of European consumers and businesses. We look forward to bringing Vodafone Red to all of our European customers in the coming weeks."

- ends -