Europe

European Union member states gave their final approval to the new roaming rules on Monday, a move to lead to further reductions of up to 60 percent on consumers' mobile roaming bills as of 1 July, notes Chinese news agency, Xinhua.

Italian telecoms regulator, the Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (MdSE), has awarded the 3G spectrum vacated by Italian mobile operator Ipse 2000 to existing operators Vodafone Italia, Telecom Italia (TIM) and Wind following a short auction.

Vivendi, the French media conglomerate, has reportedly put in an offer to acquire Zain's African mobile operations, reports Nigeria's Business Day.

The price of France's long-awaited fourth 3G network license is likely to be EUR240 million and not EUR206 million, according to a Telecompaper report that cites French newspaper Les Echos.

Tele2 reported third-quarter revenues of SEK9.763 billion (US$1.4 billion), up 3 percent from a year earlier thanks to growth in its mobile base and in Russia, reports Telecompaper.

French conglomerate Bouygues has submitted a complaint about the bidding process for a fourth 3G mobile operator to France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, La Tribune said on Wednesday, notes Reuters.

Telenor has said it will not begin settlement talks with Russia's Alfa Group until a related lawsuit brought against it by Farimex Products is dropped, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian group told The Moscow Times today.