9:10 AM Telefónica, Vodafone, and Virgin Media are among those whetting appetites on the deli counter of today's European telecom news

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

July 28, 2010

2 Min Read
Euronews: July 28

9:10 AM -- Old friends Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF), Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT), Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), and Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) join us on the European telecom news sofa today.

  • Praise the Lord and pass the maracas -- it seems that Telefónica has finally clinched the deal to buy Portugal Telecom's share in Brazilian operator Vivo Participacoes SA . An offer of €7.5 billion (US$9.7 billion) appears to have done the trick. (See Viva La Vivo Deal.)

  • All right, PT might have had to relinquish its slice of Vivo, but at least it has found someone to expand its network back home. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is the one on the receiving end of a three-year deal. (See Portugal Telecom Picks AlcaLu.)

  • In the UK, cellular-news reports that regulator Ofcom is to stop dithering and auction off radio spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands "as soon as possible", which in this case means by the end of 2011. All that lovely lolly should do wonders for the national debt...

  • The name's Bond. Sir John Bond... Vodafone's knight-of-the-realm chairman and his commoner deputy John Buchanan survived a threatened shareholder revolt at yesterday's annual general meeting of the global mobile operator in London. Sir John's re-election received the backing of 93.5 percent of shareholders, reports The Daily Telegraph, putting paid to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's, er, plan to give him the elbow. (See Euronews: July 22.)

  • Things are looking up for UK cable operator Virgin Media, which added 9,100 new customers in the second quarter, compared to losing 27,800 accounts in the same period last year. Operating income soared to £80 million ($125 million), up from £9 million($14 million). (See Virgin Media Reports Q2 and Virgin Trials FTTH.)

  • In a rather disturbing and dirty turn of events, respected UK consumer organization Which? has produced a piece of research that says, in basic terms, mobile phones are "dirtier than toilet handles," reports The Daily Telegraph, name-checking "faecal coliforms," whatever they are. The message is: If you're thinking of having a good old suck on your pal's mobile, don't.

    — Paul Rainford, freelance editor, special to Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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