Half empty

24 January 2006 By Mike Verdin

The mobile operator is growing revenues and customers fast. It is even showing signs of turning round Japan. Even so, Vodafone’s CEO is likely to remain under a cloud until he can prove his US strategy, expensive deals and technology will pay off.

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Vodafone, the mobile operator, said that subscribers rose by 8.3m to 179m in the last three months of 2005 and revenue grew by 8%. Strong performances in Spain and emerging markets such as Romania and Egypt offset weakening growth in Germany, Italy and the UK.

Excluding acquisitions and stake changes, the company added 7.1m customers and raised revenues by 7%. Vodafone said that growth in underlying revenues in the year to March would fall within the middle of the 69% target range.

The number of 3G customers rose by 62% to 7.9m. The proportion of mobile revenues gained from data services rose to 19.4% from 18.1% a year before.

The immediate market reaction was to send Vodafone shares 2p lower to 119p.

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