No service: hundreds of thousands were hit by the service failure today
17 June 2013
Merger speculation today sent shares in European telecoms companies bubbling higher after American giant AT&T was linked with an approach to Spain’s Telefonica, the owner of British mobile network O2.
Reports claimed Madrid’s government had blocked a formal €70 billion (£59.4 billion) bid for Telefonica, whose shares soared 3% despite denying the rumour. AT&T has previously been linked with BT and Telecom Italia. Analysts said AT&T’s rumoured move could prompt rival Verizon to look again at buying Vodafone, sending the shares up 3.65p to 183.7p.
