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.

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 -

10 year hi- like it

Not quite - 4 week/12 month+ high is 197.90p

That 2 quid ceiling proving a b*gger to get through again but when it goes we'll get a further 10% rise in days imo.

All depends on a Verizon deal now - it seems a matter of 'when' as opposed to 'if'.