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MOBILE

3 wins battle for magic number

Mobile operator 3 and Swedish media giant MTG have reached a settlement which enables 3 to continue using the number 3.

Published: 3 April 2007 10:49 CEST

The Court of Appeal agreed with the initial district court verdict, which stated that 3’s use of the number 3 did not constitute an infringement of TV3 owner MTG’s copyright.

The dispute began three years ago, when TV3 argued that the mobile operator’s use of the number 3 created a confusion, since both companies offer media services. As well as attempting to stop 3 using the number 3, TV3 demanded compensation of 50 million kronor.

“The ones who really wanted this process were not TV3 but another Stenbeck company, Comviq,” 3’s CEO Shlomo Liran told Svenska Dagbladet in July 2005.

“They didn’t like new competition and this was their way to try and stop us.”

The settlement reached by the two parties is reported to be amicable.

MOBILE

Vodafone to close all its own shops in Spain by March 2022

UK mobile and internet operator Vodafone announced on Tuesday it will shut all 34 of its proprietary stores in Spain by March 2022, laying off 509 employees and leaving only the brand's franchises and distributors behind.

Published: 29 September 2021 11:18 CEST
Vodafone has proprietary stores in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba, Santander, Palma de Mallorca and more Spanish cities.
Vodafone will close all 34 of the stores it owns across Spain. Photo: BEN STANSALL / AFP

Vodafone stores in Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba, Santander, Palma de Mallorca and more will close in the coming six months as part of the operator’s shift to digital. 

The company will pull down the shutters on all 34 of the stores it owns across Spain, confirming through its labour adjustment plan (ERE) that 509 employees will lose their jobs.

The operator is affiliated with nearly 600 stores in Spain that act as franchises and distributors, meaning it will still be possible to carry out operations relating to Vodafone in person. 

However, it will be a lot harder to get face-to-face customer service from the actual operator, if for example there is a problem with billing or you wish to cancel a contract. 

Vodafone CEO Nick Read announced back in 2019 that an increasing number of customers signing up to mobile and internet deals online rather than in stores would mean 15 percent of its high-street retail stores in Europe would close by 2021.  

Spain’s main workers’ union UGT referred to Vodafone’s offer to affected workers of severance pay equal to 33 days worked per year with a maximum limit of two years as “stingy”. 

You can check all of Vodafone’s proprietary stores in Spain here.

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