The French media group announced first-half losses of E12.3 billion this week and has a heavy debt burden. Vivendi has now announced that it will not fund the additional E600 million allocated for Vizzavi’s expansion.
The two companies have invested around E1 billion in the venture. However, it has not yet proved to be a success and Vivendi will not invest any more cash in the venture that is not expected to break even before next year.
Vivendi was launched in 2000, but its growth has been held back by low demand for wireless data transmission and delays to the roll out of 3G services. Vodafone is awaiting the results of Vivendi’s review before deciding its course of action.
