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.

Ah thanks Cynic... that's better.

cynic - are you sure?

Ah the nifty edit - so @£1 billion.

When I was in India last year the pound was 88 INR.
Now it's 1.00 GBP = 99.14 INR

that's about right, and i might have got my zeros wrong, but i don't think so - i.e. 1bn = 1,000m

its near enough £14m

Halifax - its nearer one billion pounds - surely the clue is in the link title in post 554?

1 Billion'ish it is then -):

Deutsche Bank Buy 226.10 226.10 - 246.00 Reiterates

AT&T Said to Explore Vodafone Takeover as Soon as Next Year

AT&T Inc. (T) executives are laying the groundwork internally for a potential takeover of Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) next year, mapping out a strategy for a complex deal with Europe’s largest mobile carrier, people familiar with the situation said.

What , they are going to buy the whole of Vodafone or just part of it ?

Gotta be worth £3 .

Vodafone Europe, it seems. (though AT&T possibly also looking at EE.)

Vodafone shares jumped on reports that AT&T is planning to invest in the telecoms giant in early 2014

all woolly rumour so likely to have questionable validity

But........what happened to 'Buy on rumour, sell on fact?' This has got to be the best example ever!

never ever buy on t/o rumour

Half Yearly Report

· Q2 Group organic service revenue on a management basis1 declined 4.9%*; N. & C. Europe down 4.9%*; S. Europe down 15.5%*; AMAP up 5.7%*

· H1 EBITDA2 on a management basis1 down 4.1%* to £6.6 billion, now reported excluding restructuring and significant one-off items of £228 million in H1

· Adjusted operating profit2 on a management basis1 £5.7 billion, free cash flow on a management basis1 £2.0 billion

· Full year guidance3 confirmed: adjusted operating profit2 around £5.0 billion; free cash flow £4.5 - £5.0 billion

· Interim dividend per share of 3.53 pence, up 8.0%; intention to pay full year dividends per share of 11 pence

· US$130 billion sale of US Group announced, US$84 billion expected return to shareholders

· Completion of Kabel Deutschland acquisition in October 2013 advances unified communications strategy

· Additional deferred tax assets of £17.7 billion recognised in relation to the Group's historical tax losses; £3.0 billion tax charge recognised in relation to the sale of the US Group

Vodafone to invest £7 billion as trading slumps

(Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone plans to spend 7 billion pounds on its networks following the sale of its U.S. business, ramping up investment after it posted a record fall in quarterly organic service revenue.

The world's second-largest mobile operator, which agreed a deal in September to sell its U.S. arm to Verizon Communications for $130 billion, said it would spend 7 billion pounds ($11.2 billion) by March 2016 to improve its networks in a bid to set it apart from rivals.

The group announced the details of its "Project Spring" spending programme as it reported first-half results showing the pressures across the group.

New high @233.75p

A new high @234.35p