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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Captain Jack who wrote (38938)	3/2/2000 3:03:00 PM
From: johnd	Respond to of 74651

FOCUS-Telefonica, Microsoft in Spain e-mobile pact (adds possible wider deal paras 2 and 11, closing shr price) By William Schomberg MADRID, March 2 (Reuters) - The mobile arm of telecoms group Telefonica said on Thursday it had lined up the Spanish unit of Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) as its latest partner ahead of an expected boom in wireless Internet services. Telefonica Moviles and Microsoft Iberica said they would jointly develop Internet products, services and applications for mobiles phones in Spain and possibly further afield. The move would be a second major partnership for Microsoft in European wireless Internet and its first in the consumer arena, following a pact with British Telecommunications's (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BT.L) Cellnet on a pilot scheme targeting corporate mobile users. The U.S. giant, whose software dominates desktop personal computers, is coming from behind in wireless and last year chose Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson as a partner to get its technology onto more sophisticated mobiles. For Telefonica, the agreement came less than a month after it unveiled a major e-banking and mobiles alliance with Spanish banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria . That deal also includes Spain's biggest savings bank La Caixa and Telefonica's Internet arm Terra Networks . ``The use of mobiles for the Internet is the latest step of this business and the fact that Telefonica is doing this is very good,' said Philippe Sardet, head of sales for Credit Lyonnais Securities in Madrid. Telefonica shares closed up 5.35 percent at 31.50 euros while the Ibex-35 main share index gained 1.36 percent as European telecommunications stocks generally were in demand and the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 telecoms index gained around three percent. TELEFONICA SEEKING POWERFUL PARTNERS Luis Lada, chief executive of Telefonica Moviles, said the agreement ``represents another very important step in our company's strategy of advancing the development of wireless Internet along with the best possible partners.' Telefonica Moviles, Spain's mobile leader with more than 9.5 million clients, is set to win a new Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) licence in Spain and is seeking UMTS licences elsewhere in Europe. UMTS technology provides access to the Internet from mobile phones and is expected to carry a boom in e-commerce and other forms of electronic business. Telefonica has said it will group its mobile interests in Spain and Latin America this year to become the world's sixth biggest mobile company with around 15 million clients worldwide. A second statement said the agreement might be extended to ``other geographical areas where both Telefonica Moviles and Microsoft have a strong presence.' Under Thursday's agreement, Telefonica and Microsoft will jointly promote new mobile Internet products, targeting both the home and corporate markets. Pilot projects based on Microsoft technology would focus on business clients, e-commerce and multimedia services among other areas. Francisco Roman, Microsoft Iberica's director general, said the agreement was another step in Microsoft's plan of offering Internet access from a range of appliances. ( additional reporting by Sara Ledwith in London)