Vodafone posted 4 percent increase in revenue for the first
six months ended September 2011 at 23.52 billion pounds thanks to a 6.8 percent
income growth in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region. Revenue from
India alone grew by 18.4 percent.
Income from the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region
increased to 6.37 billion pounds in the first six months of FY 2011-12.
The wireless major grew its revenue to 15.33 billion pounds in
Europe, growing marginally at 1.6 percent.
Group EBIDTA grew 2.3 percent to 7.5 billion pounds. Profit
decreased by 11.5 percent to 6.64 billion pounds.
Vodafone’s spend on wireless infrastructure for the period
was 2.6 billion pounds. Vodafone spent 2.4 billion pounds in H1 2010 for improving and
expanding wireless networks.
Data revenue increased 23.8 percent, with smartphone
penetration in Europe rising to 21.7 percent in Q2; 24 percent of consumer
contract customers in Europe are on integrated voice, SMS and data tariffs.
Enterprise revenue improved marginally by 2.6 percent,
primarily driven by new account wins, growth in demand for converged services
and increasing penetration of existing clients.
Vodafone’s emerging market strategy paid off well. India
service revenue increased 18.4 percent, Turkey income grew 27.9 percent and
Vodacom income is up 7.3 percent.
The company increased focus on new services. M-Pesa is now
available in 7 markets with 27 million registered users. Vodafone launched
charge-tobill in Europe. Revenue from machine-to-machine business grew by 33
percent with 6.2 million SIMs.
A year on from announcing our updated strategy, we are
making clear progress. We are gaining share in most of our major markets,
through our focus on superior network quality and an improved customer
experience. In addition, we are achieving sustained growth in the key areas of
data, emerging markets andenterprise,” said Vittorio Colao, Group Chief
Executive, Vodafone.
Although we remain mindful of the uncertain economic
outlook, we are confident that we have the right strategy and capabilities to
continue to perform consistently through top line growth, cost efficiency,
investment and cash generation,” Colao added.
Vodafone’s overall performance reflects continued strong
demand for data services and further voice penetration growth in emerging
markets, offset by regulatory changes and voice price deflation driven by
ongoing competitive pressures.
Guardian reported
that in a competitive UK market where market leader Everything Everywhere has
lost customers in recent quarters, the group has added 325,000 to reach 19.331
million subscribers.
These include 244,000 from a now closed mobile virtual
network operator which had been using its network. UK revenues rose 2.7 percent
to 2.6 billion pounds, and pre-tax profits rose 5.7 percent to 633 million pounds.
Analysts had forecast pre-tax profits would rise to 7.40
billion pounds, but the group delivered a 2.3 percent rise to 7.5 billion pounds compared
with the same period last year.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
