The German competition authorities have reported they have no objections to UK mobile phone giant Vodafone plan to take over Kabel Deutschland. “Following a preliminary examination on our part, we’ve assessed that it’s more of a complementary tie-up,” the head of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The dossier would now […]
Carlos Slim’s America Movil has made a €7.2 billion bid for the 70 per cent of Dutch telecoms group KPN it does not own, challenging Telefonica’s attempt to buy KPN’s German business. Telefonica last month made an $11 billion offer to buy KPN’s crown jewel, Germany’s E-Plus, disrupting America Movil’s expensive – and on paper […]
Portugal’s Competition Authority – Autoridade da Concorrência – has approved a merger between quad-play provider Zon Multimedia and Sonaecom’s mobile unit Optimus. The two companies said that they have been informed of the Authority’s non-opposition to the consolidation process, with the confirmation of the previously announced five conditions. The conditions include: Optimus extends the duration […]
Also at Sun Valley Malone told Reuters that all US MSOs would benefit from owning the online streaming service Hulu. Yahoo, AT&T and Time Warner Cable, have been linked to bids for Hulu, with US pay TV operator DirecTV said to be ahead of the pack. Malone siad: “On their own, if they were the […]
The Indian state of Maharashtra, which includes and surrounds Mumbai, levies a tax on each cable subscriber of about 75 cents on each and every cable subscriber as an “entertainment tax”. The Cable Operators & Distributors Association (CODA) is asking the government to slash the tax to just one-third of its present rate, to about […]
Ofcom has given the green light to MNOs, including O2 and Vodafone, to reuse 2G and 3G spectrum for 4G services. Ofcom said that networks can reuse spectrum for 4G services, following requests by 3 and Vodafone for the regulator to allow LTE services in the 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz frequency bands. Ofcom’s decision to […]
Italian pay-TV provider Mediaset Premium has teamed up with MSO Vodafone Italia to launch a joint TV Everywhere solution. Premium Everywhere costs from €39.90 per month and offers a selection of TV content and Italian league football from Mediaset Premium, which can be received on the TV set at home or on tablets, thanks to […]
In a similar move to the UK, Italian legislators have determined that the nation’s mobile operators should bear the cost of installing filters to help mitigate potential interference to terrestrial digital TV reception from 4G mobile phone services operating in the 800MHz band. The Italian Council of State has approved draft proposals setting out how […]
DISH Network Corporation has submitted a merger proposal to the Board of Directors of US telco Sprint Nextel Corporation for a total cash and stock consideration of $25.5 billion. According to DISH, the offer “clearly represents” superior value to Sprint shareholders, including greater ownership in a combined company that is better positioned for the future […]
at800 – the organisation responsible for ensuring people continue to receive free-to-air television when 4G mobile services operating at 800 MHz are launched in the UK – has completed its first live test to help assess the extent to which digital terrestrial television platform Freeview could be impacted when the services are launched later this […]