China Mobile lies in wait for economic slump

Wang Jianzhou, who ranks among China's most prominent members of the international business community, said he hoped falling share prices would represent an opportunity to buy smaller counterparts in other Asian markets.
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"I hope the falling valuations of companies will allow us to do more deals," said Mr Wang, who was among a clutch of Chinese executives attending last week's World Economic Forum in Davos. "We are very much focused on the emerging markets."To date, China Mobile has made just one overseas acquisition, the $284m (£143m) purchase of a controlling stake in Paktel, the Pakistani telecoms company, last year.

Since then, Mr Wang had complained that soaring valuations of assets were acting as a deterrent to potential deals.China Mobile, which has more than 350m customers, had also considered a $5.3bn bid for Millicom, the group which controlled Paktel, but walked away from a deal at the eleventh hour.

Although expansion into Europe is off the agenda for the time being, analysts believe China Mobile is likely to examine opportunities to move into emerging economies in eastern Europe over the long term.Mr Wang also said China Mobile had no plans to take a reciprocal stake in Vodafone, which owns a small shareholding in the Chinese ­company.

Vodafone's chief executive, Arun Sarin, is keen to expand its presence in China, which is among the world's fastest-growing mobile phone ­markets.The Chinese government is understood to be considering a restructuring of the country's telecoms industry but is unlikely to allow foreign companies to control major players in the sector.

• China Goldmines, the Aim-listed mining group, will tomorrow announce that it has commenced gold production at its Shenjiya Prospect in the country's southern Hunan province.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Vodafone seals Mannesmann deal

Vodafone AirTouch has finally succeeded in taking control of Mannesmann after last-minute concessions overcame the objections of the German group's board.The deal announced on Thursday got the official seal of approval from Mannesmann's supervisory board at a meeting in Frankfurt on Friday.The two sides had been locked in talks for seven hours on Thursday to finalise details, having reached agreement in principle on friendly terms.

The £112bn ($183bn) all-share deal is the largest corporate merger in history.It brings to an end months of rancorous negotiations, claims and counterclaims in a bidding battle mixing big business, politics and union uproar.The new company - which will have some 42 million customers - will be run from Vodafone's Newbury headquarters, although Mannesmann will continue to have a head office in Dusseldorf.Chris Gent Chris Gent will head the new company As control of Mannesmann is passing to the UK, the German group will be delisted from Frankfurt's Xetra Dax share index.The total value of the Vodafone group on the stock market, after paying $183bn for Mannesmann in shares, will be $365bn (£228bn), making it by far the largest company on the London stock market and the fourth-largest in the world.Its value reflects the bright prospects for the growth of mobile phone ownership around the world - and the huge boost provided by internet services soon being available via mobiles.As the biggest mobile phone company in the world, the combined Vodafone/Mannesmann group will galvanise rival companies into plotting their own link-ups to be able to compete in the global market.

Investment

Vodafone consumers are likely to see little immediate difference, although the company says that it will have more money for investment in the next generation of mobiles.However, Orange, which was bought last year by Mannesmann, will have to be put up for sale to satisfy competition regulators in the UK.The deal also signals a more aggressive merger climate in Europe, where business has traditionally been conducted on a more co-operative basis than in Britain or the US.

It was welcomed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and, more reluctantly, by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who had initially criticised the hostile bid.Mr Blair's spoeksman said: "The Prime Minister welcomes the proposed merger as very good news and a demonstration of how Britain can be a world leader in the knowledge-driven economy."Vodafone's Chris Gent will head the company, while, contrary to expectations, Klaus Esser will stay on as an executive director to help with the transition.Klaus Esser will stay to help transition : A Vodafone spokesman said: "They are two strong businesses and together we can go from strength to strength."Savings from combining the two companies are estimated to total at least £500m, with a minimal impact on jobs as the pair have few overlaps in their businesses.There were mass protests among Mannesmann's German workers when the takeover bid was first announced - but Vodafone has now said there will be no job losses in Germany.

Source :http://news.bbc.co.uk

British Computer Society IT Awards recognises SpinVox as a leader in `Mobile Technology`

SpinVox,the founder and global leader of Voice-to-Screen messaging, was the winner in two project categories and the recipient of the gold medal in the ‘BT Flagship Award for Innovation’ at the prestigious British Computer Society IT Awards event held last night in London.

At the 50th anniversary event, 1,300 people saw SpinVox beat strong competition from industry leaders such as Ericsson with Vodafone UK, Omnifone, BT and Norwich Union to win the Mobile Technology Project Award and fought off strong competition from BBC Worldwide, NM2 research project led by BT and O2 WiFi with AEG Europe to win the Entertainment and Media Project Award.
The company was also a finalist in the Web-based Technology Project category.The British Computer Society is the leading UK professional body for IT and communications and the Awards celebrate the contribution made by the IT profession to economic prosperity, business efficiency and innovation. They are described by the Society as ‘the leading hallmark of success amongst practitioners in the IT industry today.’
SpinVox launched its foundation Voice-to-Screen service, Voicemail to Text, in 2005, creating a new category of messaging which takes any voice, converts it to text and delivers it to any screen – mobile, PDA, PC or even TV – chosen by the user.
In establishing the Voice-to-Screen market, SpinVox has invested for four years in researching, developing and deploying a world-class platform to deliver its innovative services to carriers, Internet and media businesses on four continents and in four languages – English, French, Spanish and German. At the heart of all SpinVox services is its Voice Message Conversion System (VMCS), which works by combining computer-based state-of-the-art speech technologies with a live-learning language process.

Source : http://www.spinvox.com/

Mobile phones 'may trigger Alzheimer's'

Mobile phones damage key brain cells and could trigger the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, a study suggests.Researchers in Sweden have found that radiation from mobile phone handsets damages areas of the brain associated with learning, memory and movement.

The study, which was carried out on rats, is the latest twist in the long-running debate over whether mobile phones are a health risk.We have good reason to believe that what happens in rat's brains also happens in humans Prof Leif Salford,Lund University


Scientists have yet to find any conclusive evidence that mobile phones damage the human brain.This latest study was carried out by Professor Leif Salford and colleagues at Lund University in Malmo.Lab testsThey experimented on rats aged between 12 and 26 weeks. Their brains are regarded as being in the same stage of development as teenagers.The rats were exposed to two hours of radiation, equivalent to that emitted by mobile phones.Their brains were examined under a microscope 50 days later.The researchers found that rats which had been exposed to medium and high levels of radiation had an abundance of dead brain cells.

Professor Salford said there was good reason to believe that mobile phones could have the same effect on humans."A rat's brain is very much the same as a human's. They have the same blood-brain barrier and neurons," he told BBC News Online.

"We have good reason to believe that what happens in rat's brains also happens in humans."
Professor Salford said that there was also a chance exposure to mobile phone radiation could trigger Alzheimer's disease in some people.What we are saying is those neurons that are already prone to Alzheimer's disease may be stimulated earlier in life.

"However, this theory is hypothetical. We do not have evidence yet that the human brain is affected in this way."The study is published in Environmental Health Perspectives - the journal of the US government's National Health Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.



Resource : http://news.bbc.co.uk/