Vodafone appears ready to go shopping as its nears the closing of its $130 billion deal to sell Verizon Communications at the end of this month. CEO Vittorio Colao said that the carrier has an acquisition capacity of $30 billion to $40 billion.
The U.K.-based carrier has also reportedly made an offer to acquire Ono, Spain’s largest cable provider, for approximately ₤5.7 billion ($9.43 billion). On Tuesday, the board of Ono moved ahead with its plans for an initial public offering of €7 billion ($9.6 billion) without discussing the Vodafone offer.
With the acquisition of Ono, which offers fixed and mobile phone, TV and internet services, Vodafone could mount a serious challenge to competitor Telefonica, the dominant carrier in Spain.
Vodafone itself was rumored to be the target of a takeover by AT&T. However, in January AT&T told U.K. regulators that it had no interest in buying the carrier at least within the next six months.
Telefónica fined €500,000 in home country
Spain’s competition regulator CNMC levied a €500,000 ($682,000) fine on Telefónica for two breaches of competition regulations. According to CNMC, Telefónica, which is the dominant carrier in the country, failed to report the details of its new television and Internet offerings in a timely manner. The regulator also said the carrier blocked access to 11 premium text message numbers, which are run by another company.
Nokia rumored to release new Android phone at Mobile World Congress
Before the sale of its devices unit to Microsoft is final, Nokia is planning to release a phone based on Google’s Android operating system, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The Finnish company is expected to debut the phone at the Mobile World Congress which takes place in Barcelona on Feb. 24-27.
More telecom news from Europe:
France’s ARCEP opens consultation on FttDP. The telecom regulator for France, ARCEP, launched a consultation on Fiber to the Distribution Point technology or FttDP. The regulator is exploring the use of this technology for high-speed broadband in France. The consultation will run until April 28.
Vodafone partners with MoneyGram to expand M-Pesa. The deal will enable transfers between M-Pesa and MoneyGram customers, allowing users to transfer funds from about 200 countries. The service will be launched in selected markets in the second quarter of 2014 and expanded to other markets later in the year.
Deutsche Telecom takes control of its Czech Republic wireless operations. As RCR Wireless reported earlier this week, the German carrier acquired the remaining interest in T-Mobile Czech Republic for nearly $1.1 billion.
IDC releases its top ten predictions for the central and eastern Europe telecom markets. The #1 prediction: next year looks “challenging” and defined by “uncertain economic prospects.”
