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.

Vodaphone's bid for Kabel Deutschland could not be approved due to the failure of meeting the required minimum level of acceptances, according to the FT.

We'll know Thursday.

Order books for Verizon bond climb above USD30bn -sources

Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:58am EDT
LONDON, Sept 10 (IFR) - Order books on Verizon Communications' multi-tranche bond have reached more than USD30bn, with around 100 accounts placing orders for each tranche, including investors from Europe and Asia, market sources said on Tuesday.

Price guidance on the deal, which will finance Verizon's purchase of Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, is expected to be announced later today and is likely to be in line with initial guidance released on Monday, the sources said.

The deal consists of eight tranches, including two floating rate notes with three- and five-year maturities and six fixed rate tranches with maturities of three-, five-, seven-, 10-, 20- and 30-years.

Verizon Bond Deal Expected to Approach $49 Billion

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ +1.22% will sell as much as $49 billion worth of bonds to raise funds for the planned buyout of its U.S. wireless partner, highlighting an investor stampede into highly rated debt investments amid a strengthening economy.

The sale by the New York telecommunications company is expected to dwarf the previous biggest corporate-bond sale, a $17 billion offering in April by Apple Inc. AAPL -2.28%

Verizon is expected to sell the debt Wednesday, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

The sale signals a green light both for corporate bond issuers, which are finding a ready market for financing as they consider expanding via investment or purchases, and for the Wall Street banks that make millions of dollars putting together mergers and acquisitions.

Verizon: Bright Prospects After Vodafone Deal

A bit more here :- Verizon's Blockbuster Bond Sale - Breaking Down The 8-Part Offering

Deal Of The Decade - For Verizon?

Investors seem happy and flocked together like they were going to a feast. The Verizon (VZ) bond deal was a steal. Investors in Wednesday's offering of Verizon Communications bonds took home a 5.2 percent yield for the 10-year bond and 6.55 percent for the 30-year bond.

These yields are far better than U.S. Treasury bond yields where the 10-year bond closed to yield 2.91 percent yesterday and the 30-year bond closed to yield 3.85 percent. It is also better than investors could get on the average of BBB-rated industrial bonds that are averaging in around 4.15 percent and the BBB-rated telecommunications bonds averaging around 4.35 percent.

The yields had to be high relative to the market. This was the largest deal of its kind in history…$49 billion…exceeding the recent Apple deal of $17 billion.

UPDATE ON OFFER FOR KABEL DEUTSCHLAND

Vodafone announces in connection with the voluntary public takeover offer (the "Offer") for Kabel Deutschland Holding AG ("KDH") by Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG (formerly Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH), a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, that the 75% minimum acceptance condition has been met. Vodafone will publish a final announcement with the definitive tender ratio on 16 September 2013

Update on Offer for Kabel Deutschland

Nice work if you can get it!

Shortie - 05 Sep 2013 15:28 - 526 of 537

£3 is a bit rich given current figures.




Agreed . placed a sell order at 299p :-)

Uck me go look ay BT.A chart to see what happens when sentiment changes towards a company in the FTSE 100 without any reason !

300p gonna look cheap this time next year imo.

Telecoms giant Vodafone gained after UBS raised its target for the shares from 230p to 245p after including Kabel Deutschland in its forecasts whilst removing Verizon Wireless. The bank retained its 'buy' rating, saying that Vodafone's valuation is "attractive".

Dill hope 300 is looking cheap next year for these as I hold with my ISA. Won't hold my breath though!

New 12+ year high this morning @216.35p

Are we getting a big dividend pay out from this Verizon sale ?

It's a bit 'apples & oranges' atm - hopefully become clearer in the new year.

New 12+ year high again this pm @219.20p

Vodafone plans to boost stake in Indian unit - source

LONDON/NEW DELHI | Tue Oct 8, 2013 12:19pm BST
(Reuters) - Vodafone intends to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary after the country cleared foreign companies to take full ownership of local carriers, a source familiar with the group's plans said on Monday.

The British company is set to seek approval in the coming weeks from the Indian government's Foreign Investment Promotion Board to buy stakes from minority partners, the source said, adding that it has yet to decide if it will buy out all partners.

VOD's Indian tax problem still to be sorted out .
Maybe extra investment will give them some more cloud in their battles with the Indian taxman .
I have posted a VOD option trade on my OPT options thread if anyone is interested .

Capital go over 4% http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4686810

Quietly making new highs @227.15p