Softbank to raise $12 bln on Vodafone: source
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Japan's Softbank Corp. plans to raise  about $12 billion by securitizing earnings of the cell phone  unit it bought from Vodafone Group PLC, a source close to the  matter said on Tuesday, allowing it to secure funds at a lower  rate than with conventional loans.
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Vodafone is to hand out Â£6bn to shareholders this year thanks to a doubling of its dividend and an increase in its share buy-back programme.
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Vodafone has sharply increased its capacity in the United States after its joint venture in America, Verizon Wireless, struck a $3bn (Â£1.
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Britain's Vodafone Group Plc  will outsource application development and maintenance services globally to U.S.-based tech firms EDS  and IBM , the mobile phone giant said on Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group is counting on the MySpace.com social networking site to drive its U.K. customers to use their mobile phones for more than just talking. The two companies have struck a deal the to distribute software for updating a MySpace user profile from a mobile phone, the companies announced on Wednesday. The agreement is the first MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., has reached with a European carrier, a MySpace spokesman said. It calls for Vodafone to ship an application on new mobile phones it sells that will allow MySpace users to e-mail, blog, manage their community of friends and post comments to other users' profiles. The application, which will also be available for download, will be launched before the end of the year for U.K. users, the companies said. Pricing for use of the application has not been set, a Vodafone spokesman said. The agreement could help Vodafone nudgeÂ slow overall revenue growth in Europe, by drawing on the MySpace's popularity to boost use of mobile data services. Vodafone saw growth in mobile data services revenue accelerate in the fourth quarter, but the total still lagged far behind revenue from voice services. MySpace counted 90 million unique visitors worldwide in December, the spokesman said. Vodafone has about 16.9 million customers in the U.K. MySpace launched a similar dealÂ in the U.S. in December with Cingular Wireless. Cingular subscribers can download a Java application that lets them manipulate MySpace for $2.99 per month plus standard use charges.
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Italian broadband company Fastweb   and the Italian unit of mobile phone giant Vodafone   on Friday will announce a commercial agreement, sources  familiar with the deal told Reuters.
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Vodafone Group PLC on Monday denied a newspaper report it is considering making a $160 billion bid for its U.S. partner in the wireless phone business, Verizon Communications Inc.
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Vodafone Group PLC saw a 6 percent increase in revenue and reduced losses for the year to March 31, but revenue and profitability in some of its core European mobile phone markets is shrinking. The changes are forcing the company to look to new markets for growth.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group had almost 200 million customers by Dec. 31, but continues to face challenges in the competitive and saturated European market. The operator's European business stagnated, with fourth-quarter revenue growing just 0.9 percent year on year, excluding the effect of acquisitions. Worldwide, its growth excluding acquisitions totalled 6.1 percent. The company accounts for revenue from partly-owned subsidiaries in proportion to its holding. Vodafone said that despite low growth in Europe, some of its new calling plans, such as one that offers users a lower price for calls made within their home area and others that include fixed-line broadband Internet access, are attracting new customers. Price competition, however, is offsetting that growth. Revenue from Vodafone's operations outside Europe, excluding acquisitions, grew 14.4 percent compared to a year earlier. Egypt, Romania, South Africa, and Turkey showed particularly strong growth during the period, Vodafone said. The operator offered no further insight into itsÂ negotiations to buyÂ a controlling interest in Indian operator Hutchison Essar. The board is continuing to investigate the possibility and will only agree to a deal that meets Vodafone's financial criteria, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said during a conference call to discuss the results. U.S. operator Verizon Wireless, in which Vodafone owns a stake, also did well during the quarter, with Vodafone's share of the business acquiring one million new customers. Vodafone is still pleased with its stake in Verizon Wireless, although the company uses a different wireless technology to that used by Vodafone's holdings elsewhere in the world. "There is no concept of our selling our interest there," Sarin said. While rumors have surfaced regularly over the past few years that Verizon Wireless might be considering a major technology change, that's still doubtful, Sarin said. Even Apple'sÂ much anticipated iPhone, which operates on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the technology that competes with Verizon's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network, is unlikely to encourage Verizon to make a change, Sarin said. The migration to fourth-generation networks, which operators will begin to make in the next few years, will probably cement Verizon's choice. "That's the time Verizon Wireless will think about what next generation of technology that they can deploy and of course they'll try to deploy a technology that is as backward compatible as they can," he said. Data services are also paying off for Vodafone. Non-voice average revenue per user was up 62 percent for the quarter compared to the year earlier. Vodafone has attracted 50 percent of its total customers to sign up for Passport, a plan that offers reduced rates on roaming. The European Commission is proposing a regulation that would require operators to reduce their roaming rates. Vodafone doesn't expect the commission to make a final decision until this summer, said Sarin.
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Britain's Vodafone Group Plc   will outsource application development and maintenance services  globally to U.S.-based tech firms EDS  and IBM ,  the mobile phone giant said on Thursday.
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British mobile phone company Vodafone   Plc is set to announce it will sell own-brand low-cost 3G   handsets from October, a source close to the company said on   Wednesday.
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone has agreed to buy an 11-billion-dollar controlling stake in India's Hutchison Essar in an attempt to move into the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.
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Japanese communications firm Softbank is to buy the Japanese unit of Cable &amp; Wireless for $132 million (72 million pounds), making it the No
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BARCELONA/MUMBAI  - Britain's Vodafone Group Plc  has won the battle for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar with a bid that values India's fourth-biggest mobile firm at around $19 billion, including debt.
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone PLC doubled its dividend payment and extended its share buyback program after posting a narrower loss Tuesday for the first half of the year.
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Telecom giant Vodafone said it will invest more than two billion dollars in a drive to make its new Indian purchase, Hutchison Essar, the country's biggest mobile phone company.
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Vodafone Group Plc plans to hand 6.0  billion pounds ($11.12 billion) back to shareholders this year  after doubling half-year and full-year dividends and boosting a  multi-billion pound share buy-back program.