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World Business Quick Take

■AUTOMOBILES

Volvo reaches pay accord

Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker, reached a three-year pay agreement with US workers, ending a strike that began on Feb. 1. Employees represented by the United Auto Workers have ratified a new contract covering about 2,600 members of UAW Local 2069 at the New River Valley, Virginia, plant, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said yesterday in a statement.



■ COMMUNICATION

Post offices for sale

Deutsche Post AG says it will sell off 700 of its 800 nationwide branches to private partners that will then continue to offer its postal services to customers. Dirk Klasen, a spokesman for Deutsche Post, said on Sunday it planned to sell the branches to bakeries, supermarkets or stationery stores. He declined to give further details. An estimated 3,000 people are employed at the affected branches, but Klasen said they would remain employed by the Bonn-based company. The selloffs are aimed at cutting costs.



■ VIETNAM

New chain to open

Thailand's leading technology and trading company Loxley and consumer product giant Saha Group plan to open a chain of convenience stores in Vietnam, officials said yesterday. The first store was expected to open by the end of the year in Ho Chi Minh City, Loxley's executive director Jingjai Hanchalash said. He said the budget for the project was still being studied, but added new stores would sell a variety of goods, including clothes and sports shoes made by Saha. "Vietnam's economy is open and booming. This is a good opportunity to look at the market there and Vietnamese shoppers love Thai products," he said.



■ TELECOM

India mobile users double

India, the world's fastest-growing major mobile-phone market, will double its number of subscribers to 500 million by 2010, said Telecommunications Secretary Siddhartha Behura. The government plans to allow subscribers to retain their phone numbers when changing service providers from this year, Behura said at the India-Asia Investment Forum in Singapore yesterday. Record subscriber additions are crowding the airwaves, prompting companies including Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest mobile-phone operator, to seek more spectrum. The nation gained 8.77 million customers in January, taking the total to 242.4 million.



■ TELECOM

Hellenic sells stake

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest telephone company, agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA for 2.5 billion euros (US$4 billion), extending its reach to Greece and southeast Europe. Deutsche Telekom will pay 26 euros a share for the stake in Hellenic Telecom, an e-mailed statement from the Bonn-based company said. Deutsche Telekom is buying the stake from Marfin Investment Group SA, and the transaction is conditional on the getting approval from the Greek government. The acquisition will make Deutsche Telekom the biggest shareholder in the Greek operator after the Greek state. Hellenic Telecom is Greece's biggest phone company. Hellenic Telecom's closing share price was 19.14 euros on Friday