Europe

The bidding process for France's long-awaited fourth 3G license was launched by the country's government on Saturday, with an asking price of EUR240 million.

Telecompaper notes that international payment provider PaysafeCard has signed a contract with BT to launch a mobile money service.

Telecompaper reports that Telecom Italia reported first-half revenues of EUR13.95 billion, down 5.8 percent from a year earlier.

TeleGeography, citing a report on Iranian TV channel Press TV, notes that Russia's MegaFon is the apparent winner of the country's protracted third mobile license auction.

There is further confusion over Iran's third mobile license after Russia's Megafon denied earlier reports that it had been awarded the contract, reports Cellular News.

iBasis is suing its majority owner KPN in an effort to stop a hostile takeover bid, reports AP News. iBasis, which provides wholesale long distance phone service and prepaid phone cards, said the Dutch telecoms giant, other KPN entities and certain members of its management have violated federal securities laws.

Cellular News reports that BT and Vodafone have announced that they have received approval from the Irish Competition Authority for plans by BT to transfer its customer base to Vodafone, while also providing wholesale network services to Vodafone for seven years.