Vodafone Group this morning reported revenues of £10.7bn sterling, up 9.3pc year-on-year. The company’s CEO Vittorio Colao said Vodafone’s total communications strategy is paying dividends.
Worldwide Vodafone reported that organic service revenues were down 2.1pc, but that group data revenue of £888m sterling was up 19.4pc.
The company had a cashflow of £1.8bn sterling, up 21.2pc. Net debt stood at £31.2bn sterling.
Globally the company has a mobile customers base of 315.3 million, with 8 million net additions during the quarter.
In Europe, Vodafone’s service revenues were up 4.4pc driven by foreign exchange. Organic service revenues were down 4.4pc, reflecting the tough economy and a downward trend in mobile termination rates.
Data revenues were up 17.8pc across Europe and fixed-line revenues were up 5.7pc.
This week Vodafone Ireland, which last year acquired Perlico and 62,000 broadband subscribers for €80m, made a bold foray into the Irish fixed-line marketspace through a joint venture with BT, which will add 84,000 consumers and 3,000 small businesses to its fixed-line base.
The two companies will work together to grow the number of unbundled exchanges now within Vodafone’s remit to 58 exchanges – covering approximately two-thirds of the Irish fixed-line population.
“In the first quarter, the service revenue trend in Europe was consistent with the previous quarter and we continued to see good growth in India and South Africa,” explained Vodafone’s CEO Vittorio Calao (pictured).
“Our total communications strategy is delivering well, with organic data revenue up 19pc and organic fixed-line revenue 7pc ahead of the comparative period. Free cash-flow generation was strong at £1.9bn sterling, up 21pc. The group has reaffirmed its guidance for the full year,” Calao added.
By John Kennedy
Pictured: CEO of Vodafone Group, Vittorio Calao
