zdnet.com - Samsung may have created the phablet category with its Galaxy Note line, but this Friday will be the first time the phablet launches in the shadow of an iPhone rival.
Samsung announced today the latest addition to its hit phablet line, the Galaxy Note 4, will go on sale in Korea on Friday 26 September.
The new 5.7-inch display Note 4 will also be available in 140 other markets by the end of October, and while it hasn't specified dates or locations, last week Samsung announced that the handset will go on sale in the UK on Friday 10 October.
Samsung's Note 4 sales launch follows Apple boasting earlier this week that it had sold 10 million of its newest iPhones over the first weekend they were available. Apple didn't break out sales of each device, but claimed it could have sold more had more been available.
By comparison, the Korea Times has reported that sources within Samsung claim the company aims to ship 15 million Note 4 devices within the first 30 days.
Also, Samsung hasn't revealed international pricing yet for the Note 4, but it's recommended retail price has been set at 957,000 won ($921).
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus are markedly larger than predecessors from Apple but smaller than the Note 4. And it may turn out that Apple has a few lessons to learn from Samsung when it comes to choices of materials for the larger form factor with complaints emerging that the iPhone 6 Plus's lightweight metal frame has bent out of shape simply while sitting in a pocket.
While Apple's iPhone 6 Plus is available in major western markets free of competition for the time being, Associated Press today reported that the Note 4 will also be available in China on 26 September. The iPhone 6 is in the final stages of regulatory approval, Reuters reported yesterday.

blogs.wsj.com - It's a payment ritual as familiar as handing over a $20 bill, and it's soon to go extinct: prepare to say farewell to the swipe-and-sign of a credit card transaction.
Beginning later next year, you will stop swiping the credit card. Instead, you will insert your card into a slot, just like people do in much of the rest of the world, where the machine will read a microchip, not a magnetic stripe. You'll still be signing for the time being, but the new system also enables the use of PIN numbers, if card issuers decide to add them to their cards.
The U.S. is the last major market to still use the old-fashioned swipe-and-sign system, and it's a big reason why almost half the world's credit card fraud happens in America, despite the country being home to about a quarter of all credit card transactions.
The recent large-scale theft of credit card data from retailers including Target and Neiman Marcus brought the issue more mainstream attention, leading to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week. Executives told the senators that once the country transitions to the new system - which includes credit cards embedded with a microchip containing security data - these kind of hacking attacks will be much more difficult to pull off.
The shift is coming though: both MasterCard MA +0.60% and Visa V -0.10% have roadmaps for the changeover, and both have set October, 2015 as an important deadline in the switch. But why has it taken this long, and how will the changeover work for card users and businesses?
We spoke with MasterCard's Carolyn Balfany, the company's expert on all things related to the new payment system, known as EMV, that will lead to the end of the swipe-and-sign and the beginning of the chip-and-PIN. Here's what she had to say.
Much of the rest of the world switched to chip and PIN cards years ago. Why has it taken the U.S. so much longer?
There's a historical view to this. In the past, other markets migrated for two reasons. First, there were higher fraud rates in some other markets, and they wanted to make this move to combat fraud. Second, this system can operate in offline mode - the card and the terminal can authorize a transaction independent of communication with the bank's systems. In some other markets they struggled with robust telephony networks, so this offline capacity was attractive.
Both those factors were not driving factors here in America. Fraud was more prominent in some other markets, but what has happened since then is that as other markets migrated to EMV and became more secure, fraudsters migrated their activity to markets with less security. We saw fraudsters move over to the US market - they are looking for the path of least resistance.
There were also some more specific challenges to US migration to the new system. Because the US is one of the largest and most complex markets, the business cases for the costs had to be established. And there were requirements of the Durbin amendment, mandating all us debit transactions are able to go across at least two networks, which took some time for the industry to sort out.
It seems now like there is agreement on the switch. So when will the changeover happen?
For Mastercard, now is the time, and we've been very consistent on that message for years. We introduced our roadmap for migration in 2012, and that roadmap says that for face-to-face transactions, where a consumer uses their card at a merchant's location, the liability shift will happen in October, 2015.
The "liability shift" is a big moment in the changeover. Can you explain what it means?
Part of the October 2015 deadline in our roadmap is what's known as the 'liability shift.' Whenever card fraud happens, we need to determine who is liable for the costs. When the liability shift happens, what will change is that if there is an incidence of card fraud, whichever party has the lesser technology will bear the liability.
So if a merchant is still using the old system, they can still run a transaction with a swipe and a signature. But they will be liable for any fraudulent transactions if the customer has a chip card. And the same goes the other way - if the merchant has a new terminal, but the bank hasn't issued a chip and PIN card to the customer, the bank would be liable.
The key point of a liability shift is not actually to shift liability around the market. It's to create co-ordination in the market, so you have issuers and merchants investing in the migration at the same time. This way, we're not shifting fraud around within the system; we're driving fraud out of the system.
How will the change over to the new system actually happen?
One important thing to know is that it's not as if everybody just got to the starting line just now, there has been a lot of work on this that has already happened. For merchants, the terminals in many cases are readily available or already there, they already have the equipment ready to handle the new cards. Banks who issue cards in many cases already can issue cards with the chip, and they have been issuing them to customers who travel overseas.
U.S. consumers are already pretty aware of the chip and PIN system, because most of the rest of the world has already migrated. And we would expect in the wake of these latest breaches and the media coverage that awareness is now even higher. And as banks issue consumers their new cards, they will get information explaining the system and all the benefits, and obviously how to use it.
Aside from the security of the system, are there any other benefits for consumers?
One thing to remember is this migration really isn't about a single device or technology, it's about establishing a technological platform for the next generation of payments. So the EMV standard that we are moving toward isn't limited to chip and PIN cards, it also includes things like contactless payments, where you can tap the card against the reader, all with the same level of security.
Card issuers will probably always issue a card, but in this system an account can be resident in multiple places - so you can have the card, but also maybe a tag affixed to your phone for mobile payments, or a fob on your key ring.
There are lots of different use cases and it depends on the venue, and the devices and what interaction method makes the most sense. In a transit location, contactless interfaces make a lot of sense. We'll continue to see interactions broaden and evolve as this migration happens.

bbc.com - The three new smartphones feature the Android One branding on their backs
The first Android One-branded budget-priced "high quality" smartphones have been released in India.
The handsets provide a minimum set of features determined by Google, which has sourced several of the components to help cut manufacturing costs.
The company has also teamed up with a local network to make it cheaper to download Android updates and new apps.
Experts suggest the move should help address criticism of earlier entry-price smartphones.
Sundar Pichai, who oversees Android, said the Android One scheme had delivered economies of scale that meant the first batch of phones could be offered for as low as 6,399 rupees ($105; £65) if bought contract-free.
Three Indian companies have released the first Android One handsets, as Shilpa Kannan reports
"Our goal was to develop high quality smartphones at an affordable price, with access to connectivity, done at scale around the world," he told the BBC ahead of the launch in Delhi.
"We provide our OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] a menu, effectively.
"They can choose the CPU [central processing unit], the GPU [graphics processing unit], the storage, the type of battery, the type of camera.
"It really saves them a lot of effort in terms of identifying the right hardware [and] doing all the testing you need to do to get the software to run on this hardware.
Sundar Pichai
Mr Pichai chose India, the county of his birth, as the first nation to get Android One phones
"We tune it, we work out the bugs... we keep it secure, we update it and so on."
He added the scheme should soon expand to Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
There are no plans to launch the handsets in the West, but Mr Pichai did not rule it out.
Matching specs
The first Android One devices are made by Micromax - already India's bestselling mobile-phone maker - Karbonn and Spice.
Android One smartphones
Three Indian companies have released the first Android One handsets, but others are planning other versions
To meet Google's minimum standards they all have:
a 4.5in (11.4cm) display
1GB of RAM (random-access memory)
a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front one
a quadcore processor sourced from Taiwanese company Mediatek
the ability to run the next version of Android, due for release soon
In addition, they have been tailored to suit the local market by including a micro-SD (Secure Digital) slot, a replaceable battery, a built-in FM radio and the ability to support two Sim cards simultaneously.
If connected to Airtel - one of India's most popular networks - data used to download Android updates will not be subtracted from a customer's allowance for the first six months. Users can also download 200MB worth of apps from Google Play on top of their data plan.
Google said it had also customised some of its own apps for India, including:
the addition of railway bookings and cricket scores to Google Now's card-based results
an "offline" version of YouTube, so videos can be re-watched without incurring extra data charges after the initial download
the introduction of 13 local publications to Play Newsstand
The handset makers are allowed to add services and wallpapers of their own, but cannot run a "skin" on top of Android that significantly changes the user interface - something manufacturers have commonly done in the past to distinguish their models.
"We want to deliver a consistent experience on these devices," said Mr Pichai, adding this should prevent the devices taking a performance hit or being incompatible with software updates.
About 400 million smartphones will be sold in India over the next five years, according to a forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers, with the majority bought at Android One's price point.
Google said only one in 10 people in India currently have access to a smartphone
"A lot of the phones that have been sold in this price zone to date have not been particularly high performance or high quality," said Mohammad Chowdhury, the company's Mumbai-based (Bombay) telecoms expert.
"That's meant the experience for users has been less than satisfactory.
"If Google can start convincing people that the experience of using data will be better on these phones, I think that will result in fairly fast uptake, particularly as word of mouth is quite good in India."
Android One's launch comes less than a month after two low-cost smartphones running Mozilla's rival Firefox operating system were launched in India.
The Wall Street Journal has also reported that Samsung intends to sell budget-priced Tizen phones in the country, a system it currently uses to power cameras and smartwatches.
"India and other emerging markets are being targeted by other potentially low-cost platforms," said Chris Green, from the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.
"Google needs to protect Android's market base in these countries, as the low-cost users of today will be the premium users of 10 years time."
Mr Pichai said Google would "constantly evolve" Android One's minimum standards to suit both the needs of future software and the tastes of the various markets it launched into.
He added that handset makers Lenovo, Acer, HTC, Asus, Panasonic and Alcatel had recently joined the programme along with the chipmaker Qualcomm, all of which would launch devices at a later point.
That leaves the bestselling Android handset-maker, Samsung, as a notable holdout.
Even so, Mr Pichai said he expected the company would play a "huge role" in helping offer Android to the "next four billion users".

eweek.com - Despite the attention garnered by the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, it was Apple's announcement of the Apple Watch that stole the show at the company's big product rollout Sept. 9 in Cupertino, Calif. As usual, the mobile device maker managed to outfox the media by dubbing the latest addition to its mobile product line the Apple Watch rather than the iWatch, which is the name that had been bandied about in news reports for months. But now we finally have a clear view of Apple's plans for the smartwatch market. Apple is making sure that to take advantage of all of the Apple Watch's features, the smartwatch has to be closely integrated with the iPhone. But it's also clear that Apple decided to emphasize the watch in smartwatch. In this slide show, eWEEK discusses some of the important features in the Apple Watch that might make the device a strong alternative for those customers looking to purchase Motorola's Moto 360, the Samsung Gear 2 or other recently released smartwatches.

money.cnn.com - In one of the most ambitious product launches in its history, Apple unveiled two new iPhones, a smartwatch and a mobile payments platform on Tuesday.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are bigger, rounder and faster. The Apple Watch does more than any smartwatch on the market today. And Apple hailed the ApplePay payments system for its security and ease of use.
New, bigger iPhones: "Today, we are launching the biggest advancement in the history of iPhone," Apple CEO Tim Cook said at an event in Cupertino, Calif. "They are without a doubt the best iPhones we've ever done."
The iPhones have curved edges and bigger screens that measure 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, up from just four inches on the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus come with bigger screens and rounded edges.
To help users handle the bigger phone, Apple has moved the on-off switch to the right edge of the phone. And when you double-tap the home button, the entire display will slide down so users can access items on the top of the screen.
Crucially, the bigger displays allow for bigger batteries: 11 hours of video watching on the iPhone 6 and 14 hours for the iPhone 6 Plus -- up from 10 hours on the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone evolved
Both new iPhones feature Apple's new A8 processor, which is 25% faster than the iPhone 5S. The M8 co-processor will allow fitness apps to tell the difference between walking and biking and even measure your relative elevation.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will feature an 8 megapixel camera that comes with a new sensor that Apple claims will help the camera focus faster.
And the iPhones will come with Apple's new iOS 8 software, featuring a new HealthKit application that monitors users' heart rates, sleep, weight and blood pressure among other health-related information. Apple said iOS 8 will be available Sept. 17 to customers who have an iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C or iPhone 5S.
Both iPhones will be available Sept. 19 in the United States and eight other countries. Pre-orders will begin on Friday. The 16 GB iPhone 6 will be available for $199. The 64 GB version will cost $299; $399 will get you 128 GB. The iPhone 6 Plus will start at $299.
Apple will also discount the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C by $100. The iPhone 5S will maintain its aluminum casing -- it won't get the iPhone 5C's plastic treatment.
The new Apple Watch
Apple Watch: Apple (AAPL, Tech30) also unveiled the Apple Watch smartwatch, the company's first wearable device. The Apple Watch pairs with the new iPhones to display notifications. It features a magnetic charger, health and fitness apps and a crown that controls zoom and scrolling with a twist. Oh, and it will tell time too -- allowing users to choose between multiple watch faces.
Apple said it will sell three versions of the Apple Watch, including a sports model and an 18 carat gold model called the "Apple Watch Edition." The Apple Watch also comes in two sizes, one slightly smaller than the other.
The Apple Watch will debut with many third-party apps that make use of the watch's various features, including a Starwood Hotels (HOT) app that lets you unlock your door with your wrist.
The watch requires an iPhone, but it will work with some older versions of the iPhone, including the iPhone 5, 5C and 5S. It will start at $349 and will be available in early 2015.
"It'll be worth the wait," said Cook.
Google (GOOGL, Tech30) has already unveiled its smartwatch software called "Android Wear." Samsung (SSNLF), Motorola, LG and other gadget makers have already launched smartwatches, which have received mixed reviews and tepid interest from consumers.
ApplePay: Apple also unveiled a new mobile payments platform called ApplePay, which works with the new iPhones and the Apple Watch.
The new iPhones will be able to interact with payment terminals in a simple tap. Apple has deals in place with the major credit card companies, including American Express (AXP), MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V), as well as several major retailers.
Apple touted ApplePay's security. The company said it doesn't store your credit card information on your phone -- and the number isn't even given to the merchant. ApplePay also works with the iPhone's TouchID sensor -- allowing people to pay by touching the home button while tapping their phones on a payment terminal.
"Our ambition is to replace this," said Cook, holding a wallet.

marketwatch.com - Samsung is teaming with Facebook's Oculus to bring virtual reality to its devices for the first time.
The accessory, known as Samsung Gear, will be exclusively compatible with Samsung's 005930, +1.77% new 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4.
The South Korean electronics giant unveiled the device Wednesday at its Samsung Unpacked event in Berlin, a week ahead of Apple's hotly anticipated Sept. 9 iPhone event in Cupertino, Calif.
Shares of Apple AAPL, -0.55% fell 4.36% from all-time highs to $98.94 on Wednesday, erasing $26 billion of the company's market capitalization in one day.
Gear serves as an adapter, essentially turning the phablet into a virtual-reality 3D screen. Based on the Oculus Rift, the adapter represents a potential breakthrough for the mobile gaming market, transforming a smartphone into a hands-free virtual-reality "brain."
The Android phablet also features a fingerprint scanner and Super AMOLED display, similar to the Galaxy 5, which Samsung introduced earlier this year.
Analysts have questioned whether the 5.7-inch note will compete with the larger-screen iPhone 6, widely expected to have a 5.5-inch screen.
Samsung has long maintained a competitive edge in the larger-screen market. Its Galaxy 5 has a 5.1-inch screen, while the iPhone 5 has a 4-inch display.
Facebook FB, +0.55% bought Oculus for $2 billion in March.

cnet.com - Samsung's "quad HD" smartphone is finally here.
Bigger, brawnier, and sharper than the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Galaxy Note 4 (and its wacky sibling, the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge) continues a recent tradition of making the Note its highest-end device heading into the end of the year. After all, it's the 5.7-inch Note 4 and not the 5.1-inch S5 that bears Samsung's first 1440p display and quad-core Snapdragon 805 chipset (or octa-core processor in some markets) -- both specs that we hoped would surface in the smaller S5.
The Galaxy S5's heart-rate monitor carries over to the Note 4, which also sees an updated stylus with a few new tricks and other specs bumps across the board, like a 16-megapixel camera to match the GS5's.
So far, the Note 4 looks like the minor Note 3 upgrade we expected, one that also manages to leapfrog the Galaxy S5's features and hold steady against rivals like the 5.5-inch quad HD LG G3.
Classy plastic build
We can all breathe a sigh of relief. This is the first time in the history of the Note line that Samsung hasn't increased the size of its supersize phone. The black, white, gold, or pink Note 4 holds steady at 5.7 inches, which is plenty big for both viewing and writing.
We never thought we'd say this, but compared to phones in the 6-inch to 6.4-inch range, it's also "small" enough to wield and pocket without things getting silly. To be exact, that's 6 inches tall by 3.1 inches wide by 0.34 inch thick (153.5 by 78.6 by 8.5mm) and 6.2 ounces (176g).
Chromelike spines give the Note 4 a little upscale polish.
Samsung also keeps the Note 4 shooting for a classier look. It's built better and looks better than last year's Note 3. Gone is the fake stitching mold around the Note 4's plastic back plate (applause), though Note fans will recognize the lightly textured naugahyde vibe and metallic rim. This year's chrome seems a little sturdier and less plastic-y than in models past.
Flip over the Note 4 and you'll find a heart-rate monitor that tracks your ticker; the S5's fingerprint scanner integrates into the home button as well. You'll be able to peel off the back cover to access the battery and microSD card slot. Surprisingly, though, the Note 4 lacks the Galaxy S5's water-resistant promise.
Still, from the added metal frame to its crisper higher-res display, the phone feels zippier, crisper, and better to use.
Quad HD display
What makes Samsung's 5.7-inch screen important is that it's Samsung's first to feature a Super AMOLED display with a "quad HD" resolution, meaning 2,560x1,440 pixels (four times as many as regular HD). The jump from 1,920x1,080 full HD was inevitable; Samsung isn't the first phone-maker to trot out the newest gold standard, but now that it's joined the ranks, we can expect 1440p resolutions going forward on its high-end phones.
Pixel density skyrockets in the boost from 1080p to quad HD resolution. Just how meaningful that figure is depends somewhat on how sensitive you are to fine lines and graphical movements, like with gaming. We'll of course take a much closer look in some side-by-side tests as we spend more time with the phone.
New S Pen
The S Pen stylus was already good last year, and this year's tweaks are subtle but welcome. Samsung says that its stylus is more sensitive than previous versions, and more attuned to natural handwriting. We didn't get very long to test this claim, but in our brief time with the device it did feel comfy and usable. In previous versions, the S Pen gets the job done, but certainly isn't as good as pen and paper.
A more sensitive stylus seeks to mimic your handwriting.
In addition to finding its sensitive side, the Note 4's S Pen -- which snugly holsters in the phone's bottom edge -- adds a few more functions inspired by your computer mouse. These include minimizing app windows and dragging them around to multitask, copy/paste, and help define words you see on the screen.
The new drag-and-drop window design, however, takes getting used to. It's interesting how app windows are treated more like standard PC windows on the Note 4, but the windows don't always scale the way you'd like, and they can clutter space too quickly. Even for a multitasking phablet, it might be a step too far.
We just hope that the stylus' button along the stem has somehow become less easy to accidentally press.
OS and apps
As far as we can tell, the Note 4 runs the same version of Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top of Android 4.4 KitKat as the Galaxy S5 does. For instance, pulling down the notifications bar gets you quick access to system toggles, and other shortcuts, and a trip to the involved and options-packed Settings menu can help you pick and choose extra gestures and modes to your heart's content (here's a list of helpful tips and tricks). Since this is the Note 4, you'll find S Pen settings besides.
Individual carriers will also add their own management apps and partner installations.
Camera and video
Happily, the Note 4 has the Galaxy S5's 16-megapixel camera, and adds optical image stabilization, which makes a big difference in steady shots while holding a big phablet in one hand.
This recent version of TouchWiz means there are a mountain of settings that are easier to access than in the Note 3. HDR preview mode is a recent benefit, as is improved low-light performance, though if this is anything like the Galaxy S5, outdoor shots are still going to look better than photos taken inside.
Optical image stabilization could make all the difference in nabbing shots on a hard-to-hold phablet.
Here's something all-new to the Note 4: a 3.7-megapixel wide-angle front-facing camera that's been made to really maximize selfies. Samsung says this puppy has improved low-light performance by 60 percent, which is a big deal because we've yet to see a dedicated front-facing camera that comes with its own flash. That translates into better-balanced photos taken in darker environments.
It's nothing new to phones, but with the Note 4, Samsung is emphasizing gestures and voice commands to trigger the shutter and take a front-facing shot. You can also turn on a front-facing camera timer, which, incidentally, HTC's One M8 uses by default. Interestingly, you can also tap the heart-rate monitor to take a photo of yourself with the rear camera instead.
Performance and speeds: 0 to 50
Ask any device-maker for one of the biggest pain points and the answer is battery life. The 3,220mAh battery should be no slouch on its own (though the screen will be a power-hungry monster) and the Note 4 has power-saving modes aplenty, like the ultra power-saving mode found in the GS5, which grants 24 hours more life with 10 percent of the battery left. Still, Samsung took the time to point out that the Note 4's battery will charge to 50 percent of its capacity in half an hour.
Power users and gamers have scored a good one in the Note 4's 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, which is even faster than the S5's 801 chipset. Here's a peek into some of the extended powers Qualcomm has poured into this iteration. Some markets will get a 1.9GHz octa-core chipset, comprised of 1.9GHz and 1.3GHz quad-core processors.
LTE is on-board, too, of course. The Note 4 has 32GB internal storage, with an option to expand by 64GB more. It has 3GB RAM.
Pricing and availability
Samsung will launch the Note 4 globally in October, with market dates depending on the region and the carrier. Typically, Samsung leaves it up to carriers and retailers to announce their own pricing, but the cost should come in at the same retail price point as last year's model, about $300 on-contract in the US and $600 off-contract; £600 or £650 in the UK; and about $1,000 in Australia.
The Note 4 would, like the two versions before it, sell on five US carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon. In the UK, O2 is the first network to announce it will offer the Note 4, from "late September."
Outlook
The Note 4 advances the expected specs in terms of processing power, screen resolution, optical image stabilization, and the stylus -- without ballooning to ever-larger proportions. While the Note 4's features should continue to keep Samsung sales strong, large-phone fans who don't want a stylus will have other top-tier options in phones like the 5.5-inch LG G3 and Sony's Xperia Z line.

mobileworldlive.com - Iliad, the French integrated operator, is in talks with private equity firms about putting together an improved bid to acquire a majority stake in T-Mobile US, according to a Bloomberg report.
Iliad's submitted an initial offer at the beginning of August worth $15 billion ($33 per share) for a 56.6 per cent stake in the fourth largest mobile operators in the US.
Although the offer was rejected by Deutsche Telekom as "inadequate", T-Mobile US CFO, Braxton Carter, indicated a higher offer from Iliad might be viewed more positively, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In addition, reports last week suggested that Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent, would be willing to talk to potential acquirers if offers were made valuing the US business at $35 per share or more.
The suggestion that a slight increase in valuation of T-Mobile would trigger talks may well be behind Iliad's discussions with US buyout firms and sovereign wealth funds.
According to sources, Iliad's chief, Xavier Niel, believes the success of the company's Free Mobile brand - which has shaken up the French mobile market by offering lower prices than its rivals - can be replicated in the US with T-Mobile.
US number three operator Sprint recently pulled out of talks with T-Mobile about a potential merger which was believed to value T-Mobile at around $40 per share. However, regulatory concerns are believed to have put the companies off such a deal for the time being.
Separately, Iliad reported its first half results at the end of last week with consolidated revenue of €2 billion (up 10 per cent) and a profit of €139.9 million, a 1.3 per cent decline.
It saw a 24 per cent jump in mobile revenue (€746 million) as it added one million mobile subscribers to reach a total of 15 million mobile and landline combined.