Vivendi media group now controls 24% of the Italian telco
French media group Vivendi increased its stake in Telecom Italia by one percentage point to 24%, further strengthening its position as the main shareholder in the Italian telecom operator.
According to a regulatory filing, the French group...
Vivendi bought out Telefónica stake in Telecom Italia while dropping shares in SFR and Maroc Telecom
French media giant Vivendi announced on June 25 plans to increase its stake in Telecom Italia to 14.9%, making it the telecommunication company’s largest shareholder.
Vivendi recently purchased some additional...
Vivendi reportedly eyeing Sky TV
After offloading two telecom units, French multinational media company Vivendi is now looking to pick up video and TV assets. Vivendi this week entered into exclusive talks with Orange to purchase 80% of the telecom's Dailymotion, one of the largest...
After buying most of French operator SFR from Vivendi in November, Altice is now back for the rest. The company, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, announced an offer to purchase Vivendi's remaining 20% stake in the merged Numericable-SFR. Altice will pay 46 cents per share which...
NII Holdings, which operates in Latin America under the Nextel brand, announced it will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because it cannot fulfill its financial obligations. Following the announcement, NII Holdings' shares plummeted. According to the filing, the mobile phone carrier has until Aug. 15 to...
EMEA in perspective is a Monday column focused on the identification of regional trends and outcomes of the prior week’s news. Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and Security. Having experience at an operator, software and...
The greater the number of competitors, the better for the user, said Brazil's minister of communications, Paulo Bernardo, to members of the press this week. Those comments came on the heels of Telefónica's bid to buy Vivendi's Brazilian unit GVT. Telefónica hopes to combine its Vivo operations, which...
After losing its bid to buy SFR, Bouygues Telecom might just be bought itself. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the number three carrier in France is in talks over a potential sale to Iliad, the owner of Free, the fourth largest operator....
Spanish telecom giant Telefónica will provide wireless Internet connections for the high-end electric car the Tesla S in Europe ― and reportedly its getting paid millions to do it. While the carrier showed off the car at the Mobile World Congress event in February,...
Norwegian telecom giant Telenor had a busy day today. The company announced the sale of its subsidiary Conax to the Swiss company Kudelski for 1.5 billion crowns ($248 million), and on the same day the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Surveillance Authority opened formal antitrust...
The European Union's quest to create a single telecom market has cleared a key hurdle. The Industry Research and Energy Committee approved the “Telecoms Single Market Regulation,” a package of new policies that include ending roaming and enacting a form of net neutrality. It...
Speaking at the CeBIT conference in Hanover, Germany this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a collaboration with Germany to drive research on so-called "5G" technology and the "Internet of things." Cameron also called on improving the European telecommunications single market.
Cameron told the...
A battle of billionaires is underway in France as media company Vivendi has reportedly given bidders until March 5 to submit final offers for its telecom unit, SFR, the second largest operator in France. The two contenders are the French cable company Numericable, whose...
Telecom operator GVT Holdings, owned by French entertainment and telecom group Vivendi, has been approved for a loan of U.S. $663 million (R$1.184 billion) from Brazilian development bank BNDES. The loan is intended to complement the company's investment plans through 2013, which are aimed at expanding current business areas and new cities, as well as pay-TV operations and implementing innovation in telephony services and Internet bandwidth range, content and interactivity.
In the third quarter, Brazilian telecom operator GVT Holding, owned by French entertainment and telecom group Vivendi, saw net revenues rise 38.4% and a 50.1% increase in the number of lines in service in the customer base.
Just days after announcing plans to increase its stake in the Indian market, Vodafone Group plc (VOD) said it plans to sell its stake in French wireless operator SFR for $11 billion.The deal calls for Vodafone to sell its 44% stake in SFR to...
TeleGeography | March 25, 2011
Brazil’s antitrust regulator Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica (Administrative Council for Economic Defense, or Cade) approved on Wednesday, without limitation, Vivendi’s acquisition of GVT Holding, controller of local telco Global Village Telecom (GVT). The French telecoms and entertainment group originally...
Wall Street Journal | March 1, 2011 | Ruth Bender
PARIS—Vivendi SA is banking on its Brazilian telecommunication unit to continue to boost the company's revenues this year, as the French entertainment conglomerate runs up against barriers to growth in Europe.
Europe's biggest entertainment and telecoms...
Wall Street Journal | January 27, 2011 | Paulo Winterstein
SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian telecommunications regulator Anatel on Thursday recommended approval of Vivendi SA's (VIV.FR) takeover of GVT Holding, which still has to be cleared by antitrust regulators.
Anatel had previously cleared the way for the...
Bloomberg | January 23, 2011 | Kristen Schweizer
Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, home to artists such as Lady Gaga and Mariah Carey, is targeting broadband users in emerging markets like Brazil by signing deals with phone providers there to carry online music services.
“We are...
Bloomberg | January 23, 2011 | Kristen Schweizer
Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, home to artists such as Lady Gaga and Mariah Carey, is targeting broadband users in emerging markets like Brazil by signing deals with phone providers there to carry online music services.
“We are...
German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGY) said it has signed an agreement to take over sole ownership of Polish mobile operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. The deal calls for DT to pay more than $1.8 billion, on top of $900 million it has already...