A Financial Times blog post has started a buying frenzy for Vodafone Group Plc on news AT&T and Verizon Communications are about to bid for the British mobile phone giant, despite denials from Verizon it is involved in any deal to acquire the British mobile phone company.

The Times Alphaville blog quotes unnamed sources deemed “usually reliable people” who claim Verizon and AT&T are working together on a blockbuster $245 billion takeover deal for one of the world’s largest wireless carriers. After the story appeared, Vodafone shares were up 6.1 percent.

Verizon is interested in buying out Vodafone’s part ownership in its Verizon Wireless venture and AT&T is looking to overseas markets for future wireless revenue opportunities that are harder to find in the United States.

The sources told the Times they expect the deal will initially merge Vodafone and Verizon into a single entity, but only briefly. Verizon would promptly sell Vodafone’s extensive international assets to AT&T at a premium. Verizon would end up the sole owner of Verizon Wireless, and AT&T would acquire Vodafone’s enormous wireless operations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Barclays Plc is working on putting together the potential transaction, Alphaville said today.

Informal talks have reportedly been underway between AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone since December according to Bloomberg News. The biggest impediments seem to be among the company’s top executives arguing over who ends up in the leadership and where the combined companies will be located — in the UK or the USA.

Vodafone has been a tolerated partner in Verizon Wireless since 1999 when Bell Atlantic and Vodafone merged their respective mobile ventures into Verizon Wireless. Vodafone has held tightly to their part-ownership of Verizon’s wireless network, which has proven an enormous earner in an American wireless marketplace considered less competitive than in Europe. The talks indicate Verizon is willing to pay a premium price to disconnect the British wireless company from its American operations. Allowing AT&T to help finance the largest wireless takeover in years makes it more likely a deal can be done, assuming regulators on both sides of the Atlantic agree.

Other stories of interest:

1. Bank of America Analyst Suggests AT&T and Verizon Wireless Buyout Vodafone
2. Verizon Sells ‘Excess Spectrum’ to T-Mobile USA, With Conditions
3. Moody’s Declares AT&T and Verizon the Winners — Sprint and T-Mobile Can “Never Catch Up”
4. Mobile Phone Companies Seek to Curtail Free Text/Calling Alternatives
5. Cash Out: Verizon Wireless Pays $8.5 Billion Dividend to Owners

Verizon Wireless and AT&T could cooperate to allow both companies to build market power in the United States and abroad with a buyout of Vodafone, now a part-owner of Verizon Wireless.

The world’s second largest wireless service provider (behind China Mobile), Vodafone could be subject to an American takeover if the two largest phone companies in the United States structure the deal together.

Bank of America-Merrill analyst David Barden suggested AT&T could buy Vodafone’s international assets at an estimate price of $70 billion, allowing Verizon to buyout Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.

Barden warned the deal would be time-consuming, and likely attract strict scrutiny from regulators both at home and abroad, but a deal would give Verizon its desired full control of its domestic wireless operation and allow AT&T to become a major global player in the wireless marketplace in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East.

An analyst from RBC made news last week suggesting AT&T could be amenable to selling its non-core assets to raise cash, including the sale of its wireless broadcast and cell towers — money that could be used to help pay for such a deal.

AT&T spokesman Brad Burns declined to comment specifically on the speculation by RBC, but admitted, “if we wanted additional flexibility, that could be an option for us.”

“In all cases, our decisions are driven by what’s right for the company and for our shareowners, so in that sense, nothing’s off the table,” Burns said. “But any comments by analysts about potential sales are simply speculation.”

AT&T achieved record cash flows in 2012 and will likely end 2013 with $14 billion in free cash, which could be used in an acquisition strategy or returned to shareholders.

Fran Shammo, chief financial officer of Verizon, noted the company has been interested in taking full control over its wireless division for some time.

The estimated cost of buying out Vodafone’s U.S. share is around $115 billion.

Other stories of interest:

1. Cash Out: Verizon Wireless Pays $8.5 Billion Dividend to Owners
2. AT&T’s and Verizon’s Tax Windfall Could be Ending; AT&T Paid No Federal Tax Last Year
3. Verizon Sells ‘Excess Spectrum’ to T-Mobile USA, With Conditions
4. Breaking News: AT&T Withdraws FCC Application to Buy T-Mobile: “The Deal is Over the Cliff”
5. Pot to Kettle: AT&T Sounds Alarm That Sprint-Softbank Deal Threatens Competitive Wireless

Verizon Wireless announced Monday it will pay a dividend of $8.5 billion to owners Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone Group PLC, by the end of the year.

Together with an earlier dividend paid in January, an extremely profitable Verizon Wireless will return a combined $18.5 billion to investors in 2012.

Verizon Communications, owner of Verizon landlines and fiber optic network FiOS, owns 55 percent of the wireless operation. Britain-based Vodafone Group owns a 45 percent minority interest. Verizon Wireless, like many U.S. corporations, has used excess cash to pay down or refinance debt at historically low interest rates, reacquire stock, or pay dividends to shareholders in lieu of major infrastructure and hiring expansion.

Verizon Communications needs its share of the wireless dividend to help cover dividend payouts to its own wired shareholders. Verizon Communications has been unable to command the kind of high profit margins its wireless counterpart has succeeded in delivering to investors.

Other stories of interest:

1. Cash Rich AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable Form Astroturf Group to Demand Major Tax Cuts
2. Wall Street Encourages Verizon to Get Completely Out Of Landline/FiOS Business
3. Frontier’s Mess of a 4th Quarter: Dividend Slashing, Underwhelming Broadband Don’t Impress
4. Verizon Wireless Heads to Alaska, Providers on the Ground Expect AT&T to Suffer the Most
5. Stock Frenzy: Investors Betting Frontier Will Lose More Than a Third Of Its Value By August

Coming this June, Vodafone will introduce an Internet Overcharging scheme for its “pay monthly” mobile customers, dropping “unlimited” smartphone broadband service in the United Kingdom.

From a post on the company’s support forum:

We are planning to introduce Out Of Bundle charging for Pay Monthly customers from 1st June 2010. The reason we’re introducing these charges is to make it fairer for everyone, and to protect our network from data abuse. We’re introducing a real-time notifications service to be completely transparent about these charges and keep customers in control of their spend. No Out Of Bundle charges will happen this month but they will take effect from 1st June. The messages you’ve received this month were sent in error and no more will be sent out from today.

The charging will be as follows:

Monthly bundle customers will pay £5/$7.43 for every 500MB after the first 500MB
Customers without a monthly bundle will pay 50p/$0.74 for every 10MB after the first 25MB

Whilst you’ve all previously been used to there not being any Out Of Bundle charging, the current information available online is clear in explaining that we could introduce such charging at any time. The Vodafone Mobile Internet costs page does state:

We’ll keep an eye on things and let you know your options if it looks like you’ll go over your 500MB Flexi or Value Pack limit.

Our Pay Monthly Terms and Conditions already state that we reserve the right to charge for any usage beyond the Fair Usage limit.

At the same time Vodafone wants to punish customers for using their phones too much, the company continues to heavily market the very phones capable of  “data abuse.”

In addition to the iPhone, Vodafone now also sells a handful of Android phones — both of which are designed for their data service capabilities.

For consumers who believed Vodafone’s marketing and bought an iPhone or Android phone with an unlimited data plan, the rug is about to be pulled out.  Come June, those exceeding Vodafone’s arbitrary data allowances will begin receiving SMS text messages warning them their bills are about to rocket sky-high from excessive usage charges.

Other stories of interest:

1. Sky Dumps Usage Limits for Most UK Customers, Gives Away Free, Limited Broadband Service to Others
2. European Mobile Broadband Providers Admit Usage Caps Designed to Deter Usage, Investment In Networks Anti-Profit
3. T-Mobile Dumps Overlimit Fees, Reduces Speeds for Customers Exceeding 5GB Per Month
4. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Verizon Wireless for “Mystery Data Charges”
5. Europeans Reject “Usage Cap + Overlimit Fee” Mobile Broadband Pricing: Unlimited Use Should Always Be An Affordable Option