BT is looking to float its mobile phone operator Cellnet, today's Daily Mail reports. According to the tabloid, it is one of the options Sir Peter Bonfield, BT CEO, is thought to be considering to boost the company's flagging share price.

Private, the Spanish purveyor of porn, is attempting to IPO its Internet and broadcasting business on the London Stock Exchange. If successful this will be the first time that traditionally prudish Brits will have the opportunity to buy shares in a company whose main business is pornography. The company believes that it is worth £150 million.

doesn't believe this business will go down on you.

Waterstone's, the well-known High Street bookstore, has made its next move in the online arena with the announcement that it will deliver discounted books to customers' nearest stores at no extra cost. The move follows Amazon's declaration of extra P&P costs for multiple orders.

Internet booksellsers accounted for six per cent of british book purchases between February and May - a threefold growth compared with the same period last year, according to research group Whitaker BookTrack.

Deutsche Telekom last night gained approval for its $50 billion (£33 billion) acquisition of US mobile operator VoiceStream. The offer of 3.2 shares and $30 cash per VoiceStream share values VoiceStream's potential customers at around $265 each. According to today's

this is cheap when compared with other telecoms takeovers such as Vodafone's takeover of Mannesmann, when the customer value was almost three times higher.

ITG Group is today expected to announce the £12.5 million buyout of Sussex-based Targeted Transaction Management Services. The cash and share deal will give the Irish communications and computer group take a bite into the pre-paid mobile phone and utility bills voucher business.

John Lewis has bought 40 per cent of an online grocer Last Mile Solutions. It intends to use the Last Mile to launch Waitrose on the Web - the company's head of business development reckons a quarter of the UK grocery market will be online within a decade. The deal puts Last Mile at £200 million.

Ebookers has raised $45 million (£30 million) in a private deal. It reportedly also raised $6 million last week. Ebookers says the money will let it run until the start of 2002, by which time it expects to have a positive cash flow. In a bit of sly manoeuvering, Ebookers based the deal on the company's current share price - which had risen more than 50 per cent since the $6 million funding was announced.

Lloyds TSB is launching a $30 million joint venture with Internet incubator fund Antfactory. This new business is called Valuefactory Ventures and seems to plan to do just what Antfactory already claims to do. Both parties are very excited about the venture.

Antfactory has also gone into business with Anderson Consulting to offer e-commerce advice to European companies. They plan to complete 12 projects in the first year. Antfactory is valued at more than $500 million. ®

Have a read of Cash Register for more financial utterances from the cyberworld.