Global operator strategies - 07/10/06

Comcast proposes to bear 50% of the cost of acquisition of wireless airwaves, gained in the recent auction by the group of cable companies and Sprint Nextel. The group has gained 137 licenses for $2.4bn.

The Peruvian government has proposed a broad contract renegotiation withTelefonica del Peru, in order to fond agreement on lower monthly charge for fixed-line consumers. Telefonica del Peru has positively answered.

The FCC will vote next week on the planned ATT- BellSouth merger. Kevin Martin pushing for FCC approval.

Pirelli (Italy) increased its stake in Telecom Italia, through an additional 9.5% stake in Olimpia

Free (France) is launching an FMC offer (just after rivals FT and Neuf Cegetel). The offer includes two handsets: one WiFi only that can only connect to Free' s FreeBox HD, located int the subscriber home, or in another Free user' s FreeBox; the other is bi-standard GSM/ WiFi. 300K FreeBox are currently deployed.