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This is what is going on the mobile world this week

Please, no more mobiles! Look, we've put it all in one story for you

Okay, so you know all about the blooming things frying your brain. Well, it's only really dangerous if you're a kid, or so says an independent survey (there's another story on the site about this). This is just as well because the big mobile companies have forked out 22.5 billion between them for the UK's 3G mobile licences. However, first One2One and now BT have run crying to the courts saying it wasn't fair. "Don't be a bad loser," is hopefully what Judge No-nonsense will tell them both. We warned them all it would all end in tears. In the meantime, the German, French and Spanish(?) governments all plan to make a bleeding fortune by running the same auction system for their airwaves. The Reg's bets lie with Vodafone which looks set to make a killing across Europe - it's gonna cost though. Orange managed to nobble one of the UK licences but, of course, has to be sold soon by Vodafone this year because of its takeover of Mannesmann. Mutterings over who's going to buy it and for how much are still continuing. A story in The Times though explained that because of Mannesmann's share price leap, the company may have to sell Orange quick for cash to avoid paying a multi-billion pound capital gains tax bill. Everything is Europe-centred at the moment. Japanese mobile giant NTT Docomo has bought a 15 per cent stake in Dutch telecom KPN Mobile (merger talks with Spain's Telefonica were abandoned a few days before). And KPN plans to team up with the US' BellSouth to get hold of Orange. Which all makes a pretty kinda mobile circle. Sad thing is, while all this high-finance malarkey is going on, they're all forgetting to get down to the important things - like developing some less irritating phone rings. Is it too much to ask? ®

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