Vodafone has agreed to pay a €400,000 fine to the communications regulator to settle a legal case relating to data roaming.
ComReg had taken the action because Vodafone had not set a data roaming spending cap for all its customers in accordance with EU regulations.
The fine was disclosed in the Commercial Court today and both sides agreed the case was settled.
The default roaming spending cap is €50, but it was alleged that Vodafone had automatically put some customers on a cap of €300. When a customer goes over the cap in terms of usage, Vodafone must notify them to prevent bill shock. Vodafone will also pay the regulator's legal costs in relation to the action.
In a statement, Vodafone Ireland's strategy director Paul Ryan said: "Vodafone has settled with the regulator in the interest of achieving clarity for our customers."
But he said the company was disappointed with the regulator's approach on this issue. "In other European markets, regulators have facilitated a flexibility on data roaming pricing that recognises a need for higher caps on certain packages to meet customer requirements. Over the last 18 months Vodafone has repeatedly sought to engage with ComReg in order to seek guidance and clarity with regard to their requirements as would be the norm in these situations," Mr Ryan said.
Vodafone eyeing C&WW takeover bid
Vodafone is mulling a potential takeover bid for struggling telecoms firm Cable & Wireless Worldwide, the mobile phone giant confirmed today.
In a brief statement to the stock market, Vodafone said it was in the early stages of evaluating the merits of a deal for C&WW, which sells telecoms and internet services to major UK businesses.
A report in the Sunday Times said Vodafone would need around £700m sterling to buy C&WW, which is also thought to be in the sights of private equity firm Apax.
The interest has been spurred by the collapse in CWW's share price since it split from Cable & Wireless's Caribbean-based telecoms arm in 2010.
It has been impacted by the squeeze on British government spending and the weak economy, leading it to report heavy losses for the six months to September 30 and warn of no dividend payments in order to bolster its balance sheet.
Former Vodafone executive Gavin Darby, who in November became the company's third chief executive in around a year, is expected to provide early details of a turnaround plan alongside a trading update on Thursday.
Shareholder anger over the company's plight has been fuelled by the estimated £20m pocketed in bonuses by former bosses John Pluthero and Jim Marsh before trading started to unravel.
Cable provides high-speed telecoms services to the police and companies including Tesco and would be attractive to Vodafone as the mobile phone firm looks to grow its corporate division at a time of slowing consumer growth.
Vodafone, which was sitting on a huge cash pile of £7 billion at the end of September, said any offer for C&WW would be paid in cash. "Vodafone regularly reviews opportunities in the sector and confirms that it is in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for C&WW,'' a statement from the company said.
"There is no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made," the statement added.
There have been signs of life in the merger and acquisitions market recently following last week's proposed mining tie-up involving Xstrata and Glencore and a £1.4 billion deal for banking software firm Misys.
