Mobile operator strategies - 21/04/07

Vivendi (France) would like to take full control of its subsidiary SFR (France), in which Vodafone has 44%.

Meditel (Morocco) and Vivatel (Bulgaria) are launching HSDPA services. NetCom has also launched HSDPA upgrade in Norway.

BT Italia will becone MVNO in Italy, using Vodafone Italia network. It is mimicing what BT is doing with Vodafone in the UK.

MetroPCS (USA) has launched its IPO of 50m shares at $23 per share. From the start, the share was up 19%.

Vimpelcom (Russia) said it has completed the acquisition of remaining 10% stake in ArmenTel (Armenia) for €39m.

Mobilink (Pakistan) plans to invest $700m by 2010 in network expansion.

Vimpelcom, MTS and Megafon (three in Russia) were awarded 3G licenses in Russia.