Recently the Mumbai region has placed the responsibility for collecting India’s entertainment tax firmly onto the shoulders of the major MSOs. Previously the cash was collected by the thousands of smaller Local Cable Operators. Now four of India’s largest MSOs are hitting back. Den Networks, Hathway , Siticable and inCable have filed separate writs in […]
Vodafone has confirmed that it has obtained unconditional merger control clearance from the European Commission for the voluntary public takeover offer for Kabel Deutschland. With merger approval from the European Commission, all conditions to the offer have been met and Vodafone expects to close the transaction on October 14th 2013. Kabel Deutschland shareholders who have […]
It seemingly never just rains on India cable MSOs but it pours! Not only are they struggling with an analogue to digital conversion task that’s massively complicated and much delayed and has some regions now officially blacked out, but the tax-man has hit some Kolkata cable players with tax demands and claims of financial irregularities. […]
Vodafone has confirmed it is in talks with Verizon over the sale of its 45 per cent stake in their joint venture, Verizon Wireless. Reports earlier this year suggested that Verizon was looking to buy Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless for about $100 billion. Shares in Vodafone jumped 9 per cent following the company’s announcement. […]
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 […]