Vodafone delivered a strong start to FY27, reporting broad-based growth across its European and African operations as higher broadband revenue, accelerating digital services, expanding enterprise AI capabilities and continued network investments supported revenue and profitability.
The telecom operator reported total revenue of €10.3 billion, up 9.7 percent from €9.4 billion a year earlier, while service revenue increased 9.8 percent to €8.6 billion.
Vodafone reaffirmed that its strategy is centred on customers, simplicity and growth while increasingly focusing on digital services, enterprise connectivity and AI-enabled operations.
Business service revenue accelerated to 5.0 percent from 3.2 percent in the previous quarter, driven by strong demand for software-as-a-service (SaaS), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and cybersecurity services.
Across Europe and Shared Operations, Vodafone reduced more than 1,200 roles during the quarter as part of its efficiency programme, while continuing to expand AI-powered customer service through its “Ask Once” platform, which has helped increase customer promoters in 13 of its 14 markets.
Vodafone expanded its fibre broadband footprint across Europe through infrastructure investments and strategic partnerships. In Germany, its OXG fibre joint venture has passed 840,000 homes, enabling Vodafone to market fibre services to more than 1.5 million homes. The operator offers gigabit broadband to almost 75 percent of German homes and extends its fibre reach to more than 6 million fibre households beyond its own 25 million-household cable footprint.
A partnership with Deutsche GigaNetz will add more than 500,000 households, increasing coverage to up to 1 million homes by 2030. In the UK, Vodafone’s partnerships provide fibre-to-the-home access to 24.5 million households, complemented by a new 5G fixed wireless broadband service covering an additional 3.7 million homes.
In Greece, Vodafone and PPC are planning a 50:50 fibre joint venture combining networks that currently pass more than 1.6 million homes, strengthening wholesale fibre infrastructure and supporting future broadband growth.
Vodafone’s geographic footprint continued to diversify growth. Germany generated €3.0 billion in revenue, with service revenue of €2.74 billion growing 1.9 percent, supported by broadband ARPU improvements, wholesale revenue and digital services despite continued mobile competition. Vodafone Business in Germany connected 2.9 million IoT devices during the quarter, expanded its OXG fibre rollout to 840,000 homes passed, can now market fibre to more than 1.5 million homes, and offers gigabit broadband to almost 75 percent of German homes. Its fibre reach extends beyond its cable network to over 6 million fibre households, alongside a 25 million-household cable footprint. Vodafone also signed a partnership with Deutsche GigaNetz to reach over 500,000 households, rising to 1 million homes by 2030.
The UK remained a major growth engine following the VodafoneThree merger. Revenue increased 22.2 percent to €2.36 billion, while service revenue rose 20.8 percent to €1.99 billion. Broadband momentum remained strong with 34,000 broadband customer additions and 23,000 fixed wireless access (FWA) customers added during the quarter. Vodafone now offers fibre-to-the-home connectivity to 24.5 million households through strategic partnerships and launched a new 5G FWA broadband service covering an additional 3.7 million homes beyond its fibre footprint. The company introduced its enterprise 5G Slicing proposition for guaranteed network performance. Integration of Vodafone UK and Three UK has already improved Vodafone’s 5G download speeds by around 50 percent, while approximately 50 million people, representing around 70 percent of the UK population, can now access VodafoneThree’s 5G network. Vodafone expects the integration to generate £700 million in annual cost and capital expenditure synergies by FY30.
Across Other Europe, which includes Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic and Albania, service revenue reached €1.23 billion, increasing 4.0 percent. Vodafone Business service revenue rose 4.2 percent, supported by digital transformation projects in Greece and Ireland. Following the acquisition of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, Vodafone has migrated over 380,000 customers and integrated more than 500 radio sites. In Greece, Vodafone and PPC Group are planning a 50:50 fibre joint venture covering more than 1.6 million homes, strengthening wholesale broadband infrastructure.
Turkiye remained one of Vodafone’s fastest-growing markets. Service revenue increased 13.8 percent. Vodafone Türkiye added 88,000 mobile contract customers during the quarter. Following its acquisition of 100 MHz of spectrum for US$627 million (€539 million) in the country’s 5G auction, Vodafone launched commercial 5G services in April 2026, covering more than 30,000 square kilometres across all 81 provinces.
Africa continued to deliver double-digit growth with total revenue increasing 14.8 percent to €2.22 billion and service revenue rising 15.1 percent. In South Africa, Vodafone expanded its contract base by 37,000 customers, reaching more than 7 million contract subscribers and 41.7 million prepaid users, with 72.1 percent of mobile customers using data services. The Vodapay super app now serves 3 million active users. In Egypt, Vodafone added 74,000 contract subscribers and 1.2 million prepaid customers, while Vodafone Cash reached 15.7 million users after adding 1 million new customers in the quarter.
Across Vodacom’s international markets, Vodafone added 1.2 million subscribers, taking the customer base to 68.4 million, with 67.9 percent using mobile data. M-Pesa revenue increased 23.6 percent organically to €137 million, representing 31.2 percent of service revenue, while Vodafone Cash revenue grew 72.9 percent organically to €50 million. Vodafone Mozambique secured a 5G licence and acquired 210 MHz of spectrum for US$56 million.
Vodafone also strengthened its African presence by completing Vodacom’s acquisition of an effective 20 percent stake in Safaricom, increasing Vodafone’s ownership to 55 percent. Vodacom acquired 15 percent from the Government of Kenya for €1.36 billion (KES 204 billion) and another 5 percent from Vodafone for €0.45 billion (KES 68 billion). Safaricom generated €2.8 billion in service revenue and €1.4 billion in Adjusted EBITDAaL during FY26 and will now be fully consolidated from 1 July 2026.
Vodafone upgraded its FY27 outlook following the Safaricom consolidation. The company now expects Adjusted EBITDAaL of €13.0 billion to €13.3 billion, compared with its previous guidance of €11.9 billion to €12.2 billion, while maintaining Adjusted free cash flow guidance of €2.6 billion to €2.9 billion. The Safaricom transaction is expected to contribute €1.1 billion in Adjusted EBITDAaL over the remaining nine months of FY27.
Vodafone also expects restructuring and integration costs to peak at around €0.7 billion, including €0.4 billion related to VodafoneThree integration. The company maintained its medium-term capital intensity at around 18 percent, targets a cost of debt of around 3 percent, and plans to deliver €2 billion in gross efficiency and synergy potential, including €1 billion in net European operating expense reductions between FY27 and FY30.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
