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World Business Quick Take

■TELECOMS

Vodafone eyes T-Mobile

The UK’s Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile phone company by revenue, is exploring a bid to buy T-Mobile UK, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Citing people familiar with the situation, the daily said Vodafone was considering making an offer or setting up a joint venture, in a move that would give it a 40 percent share of revenue paid by mobile phone users in the UK. Vodafone has a market share of about 25 percent, compared with 27 percent for O2, owned by Spain’s Telefonica, 22 percent for France Telecom’s Orange, 15 percent for T-Mobile and 8 percent for Hutchinson Whampoa’s 3.



■TRADE

Canada, Jordan sign FTA

Jordan and Canada signed a free-trade agreement yesterday aimed at boosting the competitiveness of Jordanian exports, the state-run Petra news agency reported. The agreement, which is the first between Canada and an Arab country, will eliminate customs on goods of Jordanian origin exported to the Canadian market immediately after it comes into effect later this year, the government-run news agency reported. Jordan will reduce customs on Canadian goods during a five-year period. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached 61 million dinars (US$86 million) last year.



■AVIATION

Incheon airport to expand

South Korea will spend more than US$3 billion expanding Incheon International Airport to help it compete better with regional rivals, officials said yesterday. Work on the 4 trillion won (US$3.12 billion) project will start in 2011 and finish by 2015, the ministry of land, transport and maritime affairs said in a statement. A second passenger terminal will be built and existing facilities including the cargo terminal expanded. The airport, now capable of handling 44 million passengers and 4.5 million tonnes of cargo per year, will be able to handle 62 million passengers and 5.8 million tonnes annually once the expansion is complete, the ministry said.



■VIETNAM

Firm buys hotels abroad

Vietnam’s leading travel service company will buy five hotels overseas to expand its operations and develop its brand internationally, a company official said yesterday. “Taking advantage of falling property prices in the economic crisis, we decided to buy hotels overseas to expand our operations and develop our brand name into an international one,” said Nguyen Huu Tho, general director of Saigontourist Holding Company. “This is the first time a Vietnamese tourist company plans to buys hotels overseas.” Tho said the company had hired US law firm Baker & McKenzie to help complete negotiations for a 252-room hotel located in Fisherman’s Wharf, a popular tourist destination in San Francisco, California. Saigontourist would purchase four other hotels in Tokyo, Berlin, Hong Kong and Moscow after the first deal was completed.



■FRANCE

Recession to slow down: IMF

The French recession will slow down this year and the country will begin a return to “sluggish” growth early next year, the IMF said on Sunday. “The economic contraction is expected to slow in the remainder of 2009, followed by a sluggish return to growth beginning in early 2010,” the IMF said in a report following consultations with France, the fourth-largest contributor to the international body. But the fund cautioned that “the country remains in deep recession, and short-term policies to support recovery are essential.”
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