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| Tension mounts between Vodafone and Verizon over US joint venture
PARIS, July 15 (AFP) - The world's biggest mobile telecommunications operator, Vodafone, has clashed with US partner Verizon Communications over the future of their joint US venture Verizon Wireless, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Executives of the British Vodafone are said to be frustrated by the company's lack of control in the United States, where Verizon Wireless is the leading mobile operator, turning a profit of 20 billion dollars (17.68 billion euros) the report said. Serious & personalized business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage - BizVantage! "Vodafone aspires to be the Coca-Cola of wireless, with customers across the globe using its network and phones," it added. "But, because it owns just 45 percent of the partnership, Vodafone hasn't been able to get its name attached to a single product of the joint venture." The British firm has also been unable to persuade Verizon to use a technology compatible with the one Vodafone uses in most of the 28 other countries it serves. Verizon, the second largest mobile phone company worldwide, believes that Vodafone's partnership is not essential to the wireless venture it controls. "While we see no reason for Vodafone to change a relationship that benefits both of us, we would be entirely comfortable if they chose to go another direction," the report quoted Peter Thonis, a Verizon spokesman, as saying. What has perhaps increased tension between the two companies is Vodafone's contractual option of forcing Verizon to pay the British firm 10 billion dollars in return for a large chunk of its stake. The option, which was written into the venture's three-year-old contract, could cause problems for Verizon which is working to reduce huge debts, but the company said it would make back the sum through a larger share of the venture's profits. In effect for 60 days at certain points over several years, the clause would also hit Vodafone with enormous taxes, the paper said. bm/wai Britain-telecom-company-venture-Vodafone-Verizon
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