Euronews: Vodafone Feels Pain in Spain

Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) and Etisalat are good to go in today's helping of EMEA headlines.

Strong growth in India and Turkey has helped keep things on an even keel for mobile giant Vodafone, which has reported group revenues up 3.5 percent year-on-year at £11.6 billion (US$18.9 billion) in its fiscal first-quarter results. In cash-strapped Spain, however, revenues were down nearly 10 percent compared with a year ago. (See Vodafone Reports Fiscal Q1, Euronews: Vodafone Takes Control in India and Vodafone Deepens Ties With Verizon.)

The Iberian situation is probably also largely responsible for Spanish giant Telefónica forming a strategic partnership with Etisalat, the Middle East carrier based in the United Arab Emirates. The collaboration will cover procurement, technological standardization, research/development and cloud services, among other things. (See Telefonica Teams Up With Etisalat, Euronews: Telefonica's Layoffs Bill Shock and Telefonica Takes $3.8B Hit .)

The recent reduction in European mobile termination rates hit the first-half revenues of Colt Technology Services Group Ltd , which dipped 3.5 percent to €766.2 million ($1.1 billion). Net income fell 63 percent to €16.7 million ($24 million), though the comparison is perhaps harsh as net profit in the first half of 2010 was helped by a tax rebate. However, operating profit also fell, by nearly 25 percent to €25.7 million ($37 million). Colt is one of Light Reading's Top 20 Bridge Builders. (See Colt Reports H1 and The Top 20 Bridge Builders.)

There are plenty of unhappy bunnies among Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc (London: CW) shareholders, reports Reuters. Almost a third of them voted against the company's proposed incentive scheme, which could give returning CEO John Pluthero shares worth £2 million ($3.3 million) on top of his £675,000 ($1 million) salary. (See Pluthero Back in C&W Hot Seat and C&W Does the Splits.)

Private equity firm BC Partners is to acquire Swedish cable operator Com Hem AB in a deal that the Financial Times reckons is worth more than €1.8 billion ($2.6 billion). (See BC Partners to Buy Com Hem.)

Sweden-based carrier Tele2 AB (Nasdaq: TLTO) is planning to buy Network Norway AS , a mobile operator, for approximately 890 million Swedish kronor ($141 million) in cash. The acquisition will make Tele2 the third-largest mobile operator in Norway, with more than 1 million customers. (See Tele2 to Buy Norwegian Operator, Tele2 Reports H1 and TeliaSonera v. Tele2.)

Five years of litigation have seemingly come to an end with Russian consortium Alfa -- of which Altimo is the telecom investment arm -- winning its case against the Cukorova Group, reports Bloomberg. The case centered on a stake in operator Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE: TKC), which Cukorova maintained was obtained illegally. (See Alfa Claims Court Win Over Turkcell Stake.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading