Telefonica Expands M2M Services to Three More Countries:

Telefonica has announced that its Smart M2M Solution is now available in Argentina Chile and Mexico.

The same management platform was launched in Spain and Brazil last year, and is an in-house product, developed by Telefónica's R&D in collaboration with Ericsson.

There is a huge variety of connected machines serving different proposes: energy meters, vehicles, buildings, etc. Most of them, provided with an M2M connection that has to be managed and controlled.

Telefónica's Smart M2M Solution incorporates features such as real-time monitoring of traffic type, volume and current consumption, technical supervision of lines (maps of connected devices, advanced diagnostics) and localization. It also offers fraud detection functionalities, including the ability to restrict communications between a list of given devices and the option to establish traffic caps.

Telefonica to Offer Line OTT Messaging App with Firefox OS Smartphones:

Telefonica has announced a deal to offer access to the Line branded OTT messaging app in selected markets where it is selling Firefox based smartphones.

The OTT messaging service, Line has over 330 million registered users worldwide at the start of 2014 with growth of over 58 percent in the third quarter of 2013 alone.

The countries to be launched with Telefonica's Line app include Venezuela, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Uruguay, Brasil and Mexico. Additional markets to be announced shortly.

The Line app is available globally via the Firefox OS Marketplace and will be exclusive to Telefonica subscribers in Venezuela, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Uruguay, Brasil and Mexico. Telefonica will also include the Line application into new OS releases delivered to existing Firefox OS users.

Telecom Italia Defers Decision on Shareholder Restrucuting:

Telecom Italia's board of directors has decided to set up a review of its shareholding structure, but stepped back from approving long called for changes immediately.

During the meeting, described by the company as "very fruitful", the board approved the review which will have to report back next month.

The board meeting also decided to define a procedure that will be examined next month to cover any sale of its Brazilian subsidiary. They confirmed that at this moment, there are no plans for a sale of the division.

It's expected that any such sale would be vetted by the independent directors on the board, thus negating any influence over the sale by Telefonica.

In related news, the company raised EUR 1 billion in fresh debt by selling bonds that are due to be repaid in seven years time.

Increased Pressure on Telecom Italia to Normalise its Shareholding Structure:

Telecom Italia's CEO is throwing his weight behind plans that could see Telefonica's influence over the Italian firm sharply reduced.

At the moment, a holding company, Telco has effective control over Telecom Italia as despite owning just 22.4% of the shares, can appoint four-fifths of the directors. Telefonica is the majority shareholder in Telco.

The "four-fifths" board rule has been in place since 1997, when Telecom Italia was privatized by the government.

An activist shareholder, Marco Fossati, who owns 5 percent to Telecom Italia is pushing for the shareholding structure to be normalised so that minority shareholders are not penalised by the current system. In this, he is reported to have the backing of Telecom Italia's newish CEO, Marco Patuano.

Directors gathering in Milan will start reviewing a motion by investors led by Marco Fossati to strip Telco's power to name four-fifths of board members, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources.

European Regulators to Examine German Network Merger Plans:

The European Union is expected to open a full investigation into merger plans between two of Germany's mobile network operators.

German regulators had been seeking to handle the matter internally, but the Reuters news agency reports that the EU will overrule them and decide the matter itself.

Earlier this year, KPN agreed to sell its German subsidiary, E-Plus to Telefonica's O2 Germany in an EUR5 billion deal.

KPN would also be left with a 17.6% stake in the merged company which sees the number of mobile networks in the country shrink to three, plus MVNOs.

The EU is said to be concerned about the reduction in competition in the local market.

The opening of a full investigation will delay the completion of the deal, which is important for KPN which needs the money to pay down its debt.