Emerging markets boost Vodafone

MOBILE phone giant Vodafone yesterday assured investors that it remained on track despite the economic storm buffeting its southern Europe markets.

The group posted revenue growth of 1.5 per cent to 10.8 billion for the quarter to 30 June, helped by continued strong trading in emerging markets such as India and Turkey and a resilient UK performance.

Revenues in its home market rose 1.7 per cent, with growing demand for smartphones and data bundles offsetting a competitive market and an enforced industry-wide cut in the rates that operators charge to handle other networks' traffic.

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However, economic pressures meant service revenues declined by nearly 10 per cent in Spain and by 1.5 per cent in Italy, while Vodafone also reported tough trading in Greece.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao said the company's spread of markets and drive for more data revenues meant targets for the financial year remained in place.

He added: "We have made a good start to the year, reporting robust results despite challenging macro-economic conditions across southern European economies and the impact of cuts to mobile termination rates."

In India, service revenues grew by 16.8 per cent, driven by a 29.8 per cent jump in the customer base. The firm reported 26 million data customers, a year-on-year increase of 189 per cent, helped by a surge in the number of data-enabled handsets and the impact of marketing campaigns run alongside sporting events.