Liberty Global plans to take on Vodafone in Europe

Liberty Global, the largest cable company outside China and a voracious acquirer of European cable firms, is reportedly planning to launch a more mobile assault on the continent. Liberty SVP Manuel Kohnstamm told Bloomberg that John Malone’s company wants to create a “pan-European” mobile network based on mobile virtual network operator deals.

Liberty Global Plc (LBTYA), the cable company controlled by billionaire John Malone, plans to offer mobile phone services to customers throughout Europe, taking on carriers such as the U.K.’s Vodafone Group Plc. Liberty Global will put together a so-called mobile virtual network operator system, or MVNO, the name given to companies that use other carriers’ wireless infrastructure for their own mobile services, Senior Vice President Manuel Kohnstamm said in a interview yesterday in Amsterdam. “We’re working on a deep MVNO, and we don’t only do that in Austria but in the whole of Europe,” Kohnstamm said. “We’re constructing a pan-European MVNO platform.”