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Vodafone Group PLC is looking into purchasing Vivendi Universal SA's 50% stake in their joint-venture company Vizzavi Ltd. Vivendi is looking for ways to reduce debt and is gradually selling-off assets. If Vodafone purchases the Vizzavi Ltd. stake, it will probably phase-out the Vizzavi brand name and incorporate some of its operations into wireless-operator subsidiaries of Vodafone's in the eight European market segments that were served by Vizzavi. Although Vizzavi had recently been restructured, the company's 2001 loss was 386 million euros and some Vodafone executives worry that owning the entire company will be a hindrance rather than a help.

Atlanta, GA-based Cox Communications Inc. is one of several companies interested in purchasing AT and T Broadband from AT and T Corp. Cox hopes that the business-strategy similarities between the two companies will help AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong decide in their favor. Both cable-TV companies have cable telephony capacity (the ability to transmit phone calls using the cable-TV lines) which is broadly deployed. If merged, the combined companies would control 1.4 million subscribers. Cox CEO James O. Robbins would run the merged company and has secured financial backing for the merger from Microsoft Corp.