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.

PLC Morgan Stanley Overweight 197.85 205.00 205.00 Retains

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 197.85 200.00 200.00 Reiterates

A potential offer by Verizon (VZ) for Vodafone's stake in their US wireless joint venture would have to increase substantially to please the British telecom group's shareholders, according to Jefferies.

Jefferies said: "The glaring issue raised by last night’s [Reuters] article is of course price. $100bn is nowhere close to the level at which Vodafone can consider a deal, even assuming a minimal capital gains tax charge. The Sunday Times article on March 24th floated a valuation for the VZW stake of $135bn (and this before estimate upgrades that followed last week's VZ first-quarter results)."

"The valuation will need to climb much higher to create an outcome acceptable to VOD shareholders in our view."

No smoke without fire eh!

Multi year high just breached @197.95.

Analysis - Tax strategy may be key to Verizon Wireless deal

Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:21am BST

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's chances of buying the 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by the UK's Vodafone Group Plc will hinge, at least in part, on the quality of tax advice it is getting.

Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, may have found a way to structure a purchase of the stake so that Vodafone can avoid a multi-billion dollar U.S. capital gains tax bill, sources familiar with Verizon's plans said. The possibility of a huge tax bill has previously been regarded by analysts as a big hurdle to any such deal.

VODAFONE POWERS MAHINDRA REVA'S e2o CONNECTED CAR


· India'sfirst truly 'connected car' enabled by Vodafone M2M services
· First communications service provider to offer M2M platform in the Indian market

Vodafone has announced that Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd., a part of the US $15.9 billion Mahindra Group, has powered its recently launched e2o electric vehicle - the first truly 'connected car' - with Vodafone's machine-to-machine (M2M) communication services.

President Pranab Mukherjee hits out at MNCs for their ‘intent to dodge tax’


NAGPUR: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday slammed multinational companies saying they only looked for oversees locations with an intention to dodge taxes, raising eyebrows at a time when the country is desperately wooing foreign capital to plug a widening current account deficit.

Addressing a function at the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), Mukherjee said more than three-fourths of business transactions nowadays took place through the units of MNCs. "Their basic objective is to locate a unit in countries where the rates of tax are the lowest. Many are not physically located in a country but operate with an objective to evade and avoid tax in the tax havens," Mukherjee said.

During his stint as finance minister, Mukherjee had scared MNCs to the sidelines after making retrospective changes in tax laws and unveiling the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to fight tax evasion. Mukherjee, as finance minister, had linked the Vodafone tax issue to the government's fight against black money.

The Vodafone tax case had led to sharp division within the government. P Chidambaram, who took charge of the finance ministry last September, reversed a number of decisions taken by his predecessor, boosting investor confidence. The government put off implementation of GAAR and is weighing options on resolving the Rs 13,000 crore Vodafone tax issue.


More.........

Citigroup Buy 196.15p 215.00p 215.00p Reiteration

Espirito Santo Execution Buy 196.15p 200.00p 200.00p Reiteration

UBS Buy 196.15p 220.00p 230.00p Reiteration

News just out VOD in bid............

Banks now involved according to Sky

http://news.sky.com/story/1085516/verizon-dials-up-funds-for-100bn-vodafone-bid

Verizon Talks Tough to Vodafone

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ +0.25% is breaking out the stick.

In comments that appear aimed at pressuring Vodafone Group VOD.LN -1.07% PLC to sell its stake in the companies' U.S. joint venture, Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam hinted in a meeting with investors this week that Verizon Wireless might not pay a distribution to its two owners this year.

Been looking at these as a possible trade but suspect that I've missed the boat as they already have had a very good run, things looking as clear as mud as well -):

What's your take on the future SP Skinny?

They are part of the yield sector of my SIPP, although I do trade them from time to time - the above link would suggest (if true) that VZ want to play 'hard ball' (or whatever the Yanks say), and there are speculative takeout prices doing the rounds, so from a trading point of view, I would want to be in.

In the mean time :-

Final Results 21st May.

Ex dividend - probably June 5th.

Thanks a lot, food for thought.

Oriel Securities Buy 187.68 193.95 225.00 225.00 Reiterates

I'm still in , as skinny says the divi is a nice bonus with these.

Some Verizon investors OK with paying premium for Vodafone stake

NEW YORK/LONDON | Mon May 6, 2013 1:07am EDT
(Reuters) - Some shareholders of Verizon Communications Inc say they could be happy for the company to pay up to $130 billion for Vodafone Group Plc's stake in their U.S. wireless venture.

Reuters reported last week that Verizon had hired advisers to prepare a $100 billion cash-and-stock bid for Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, though several major Vodafone investors have said that figure is inadequate.

Two large shareholders in Verizon told Reuters they could be comfortable with paying 20 percent to 30 percent more to secure the No.1 U.S. mobile service provider, which generates 66 percent of Verizon's revenue and almost all of its profit.

Well that shouldn't do the SP any harm in the short term should it?

Yum Yum - Vodafone to receive $3bn in Verizon Wireless dividend payment

Verizon Wireless, the US mobile phone company, is to make a $7bn (£4.4bn) dividend payment that will hand $3bn to Britain's Vodafone with the aim of easing tension between the transatlantic partners.

In the announcement, Verizon Communications, which owns 55% of the joint business, said it would receive $3.85bn of the dividend payment. Vodafone, owner of the rest of the business, will receive $3.15bn, according to a regulatory filing.

Here is the RNS - VODAFONE TO RECEIVE £2.1 BILLION DIVIDEND FROM VZW

VODAFONE TO RECEIVE £2.1 BILLION DIVIDEND FROM VERIZON WIRELESS IN JUNE 2013


Vodafone today announces that the Board of Verizon Wireless has approved the payment of a $7 billion (£4.6 billion) dividend. As a 45% shareholder in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone's share of the dividend will be $3.2 billion (£2.1 billion). The dividend is due to be paid by the end of June 2013.

Vodafone will provide an update on how it plans to utilise this dividend at the time of its preliminary results announcement on 21 May 2013

Citigroup Buy 0.00 215.00 215.00 Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 0.00 - - Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 191.85 200.00 200.00 Reiterates

Kapil Sibal go-ahead for settling Vodafone tax row

NEW DELHI: A change of guard in the law ministry has also resulted in a change in stance on commencing conciliatory talks with telecom giant Vodafone in the Rs 11,000 crore tax dispute. Law minister KapilSibal has agreed with finance ministry's suggestion to start a dialogue to settle the claims, although the matter would have to be cleared by the Cabinet. Sibal, who is also the telecom minister, is learnt to have met finance minister P Chidambaram over the weekend.

Telecom minister Sibal, who took additional charge as law minister on Monday, revived the case by seeking a fresh opinion of Attorney General G E Vahanvati on the issue. Vahanvati, who was earlier not in favour of the move, is learnt to have done a U-turn on the matter and now backs the talks.