Vizzavi has moved to quash reports that it is on the verge of announcing "widespread" job losses in its multi-platform Internet portal business.

The Guardian claims that the cuts are needed to reduce costs at the operation which has, by all accounts, not shone brightly as a dotcom star.

The newspaper also claims that Vizzavi's French backer Vivendi might be getting cold feet and considering its options for the future.

However, a spokesman for Vizzavi - a joint venture between mobile phone operator, Vodafone, and monster content provider, Vivendi Universal - denied the report, claiming that it was simply untrue.

He ruled out any job losses among the 800 staff in eight countries who work for Vizzavi. Far from cutting jobs, he said the operation was still recruiting. And he said that Vivendi's support for the operation remained strong and committed.

The newspaper report also referred to insiders who claimed that Vizzavi had failed to hit a target of two million subscribers by the end of June. However, this was also rubbished by the Vizzavi spokesman who said that the service currently boasted more than three million subscribers.

Vizzavi was created last year is a multi-access portal in Europe delivering content and services to a range of devices including mobile phones, PCs, PDAs and iTV. ®