Orange, France’s largest carrier, is looking to take over the triple play provider Jazztel, sources told Bloomberg News. The mobile operator Yoigo, currently owned by Stokholm-based TeliaSonera is also a potential target. The moves by Orange follow earlier reports that U.K.-based Vodafone had bid for the Spanish cable provider Ono.
In another sign of increasing competition, Vodafone has filed a complaint against Telefónica with the Spanish regulator CNMC, charging that Telefónica was abusing its leadership position to reduce competition. Among the issues of contention, the complaint cites Telefónica’s deal with Jazztel to use its fiber optic networks. Spanish-based Telefónica is currently the dominant carrier in its home country, followed by Vodafone and Orange.
Deutsche Telekom looks East: While other carriers are busy in Spain, Germany’s leading carrier is looking to become a leader in Eastern Europe. Claudia Nemat, who’s in charge of the company’s European operations outside Germany, told Bloomberg that “There will be a big revolution in every country” as the carrier improves phone and Internet services.
Deutsche Telekom, which recently took full conrol of its Czech unit, is now close to a deal to raise its 40% stake in Greece’s OTE to 50%, according to the Greek newspaper To Vima. Deutsche Telekom aims to buy another 10% stake from the Greek government and a state-run pension fund. Heavily in debt, the Greek government has been making moves toward privatization as part of its international bail out.
More telecom news from Europe:
Merkel, Hollande want E.U. networks safe from U.S. spies: As part of talks in Paris today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are expected to discuss proposals to create networks that keep European Union data within E.U. borders. The two leaders are interested in safeguarding European networks from U.S. espionage, in the wake of the NSA spying scandal.
Roaming policies costing carriers 300 million potential customers: A European Commission survey found that 94% of Europeans who travel outside their home country limit their use of services like Facebook because of current mobile roaming charges. The EC estimates that telecoms are missing out on around 300 million customers.
Potential problems with Telefónica/KPN deal: The European Union antitrust regulator doesn’t like the looks of Telefónica’s €8.6 billion($11.83 billion) deal for KPN’s German unit, sources told Reuters.
Ericsson and Kodiak launch Push-to-Talk (PTT) platform in Europe: Following a launch in the U.S. in 2012, the two companies are now introducing the PTT platform in Europe. The service allows users to instantly communicate with large audiences at the push of a button. It will support a wide range of devices and networks from smartphones to ruggedized devices and 4G to Wi-Fi.
