France Telecom bail-out faces EC probe
PrintPukka loan, or state aid?
Posted in Hardware, 9th January 2003 10:35 GMT
Free whitepaper – Cooling strategies for ultra-high density racks and blade servers
The European Commission has been forced to launch a formal investigation into whether the French government's €9bn ($9.3bn) assistance to France Telecom SA breaches regulations that ban state aid.
As third-placed French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom SA has made a complaint to regulators, they had little option but to investigate. Competition commissioner Mario Monti described it as a "very important case" and said that third parties will have an opportunity to make their views known.
Given that the French government has a 55% holding in France Telecom, it has little option but to prop up the debt-laden company to the disadvantage of its private-sector competitors. The big question is whether European regulators can persuade the French government to sell its stake in the company and let France Telecom sink or swim as a private company.
Straight Talk with Dell: Sending out an SaaS
Analyst Keynote: The Register Agile Data Center Summit
Thermal design of the Dell PowerEdge T610, R610, and R710 servers
Seven ways to lower storage costs
Ensuring high service levels in cloud computing
Apple sues over knock-off power bricks
US Air Force orders 2200 Sony PS3s
Xiotech definitely not using SSDs in near future
HP takes one in the servers