Vodafone's emerging markets drive growth
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group had almost 200 million customers by Dec. 31, but continues to face challenges in the competitive and saturated European market. The operator's European business stagnated, with fourth-quarter revenue growing just 0.9 percent year on year, excluding the effect of acquisitions. Worldwide, its growth excluding acquisitions totalled 6.1 percent. The company accounts for revenue from partly-owned subsidiaries in proportion to its holding. Vodafone said that despite low growth in Europe, some of its new calling plans, such as one that offers users a lower price for calls made within their home area and others that include fixed-line broadband Internet access, are attracting new customers. Price competition, however, is offsetting that growth. Revenue from Vodafone's operations outside Europe, excluding acquisitions, grew 14.4 percent compared to a year earlier. Egypt, Romania, South Africa, and Turkey showed particularly strong growth during the period, Vodafone said. The operator offered no further insight into itsÂ negotiations to buyÂ a controlling interest in Indian operator Hutchison Essar. The board is continuing to investigate the possibility and will only agree to a deal that meets Vodafone's financial criteria, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said during a conference call to discuss the results. U.S. operator Verizon Wireless, in which Vodafone owns a stake, also did well during the quarter, with Vodafone's share of the business acquiring one million new customers. Vodafone is still pleased with its stake in Verizon Wireless, although the company uses a different wireless technology to that used by Vodafone's holdings elsewhere in the world. "There is no concept of our selling our interest there," Sarin said. While rumors have surfaced regularly over the past few years that Verizon Wireless might be considering a major technology change, that's still doubtful, Sarin said. Even Apple'sÂ much anticipated iPhone, which operates on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the technology that competes with Verizon's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network, is unlikely to encourage Verizon to make a change, Sarin said. The migration to fourth-generation networks, which operators will begin to make in the next few years, will probably cement Verizon's choice. "That's the time Verizon Wireless will think about what next generation of technology that they can deploy and of course they'll try to deploy a technology that is as backward compatible as they can," he said. Data services are also paying off for Vodafone. Non-voice average revenue per user was up 62 percent for the quarter compared to the year earlier. Vodafone has attracted 50 percent of its total customers to sign up for Passport, a plan that offers reduced rates on roaming. The European Commission is proposing a regulation that would require operators to reduce their roaming rates. Vodafone doesn't expect the commission to make a final decision until this summer, said Sarin.
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone Group Plc  beat market forecasts for quarterly customer additions on Wednesday, and reiterated its annual forecasts for revenue growth and profit margins.
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Vodafone is to kick-start a global push into 3G with an array of mobile phones that is likely to outstrip the range of handsets being sold by many of its rivals.
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BARCELONA/HONG KONG  - Vodafone  shares climbed on Monday after the British mobile phone giant beat rival suitors with an $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest cellphone firm.
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The maker of mobile phones said a push into emerging markets drove handset sales to a record.
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Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone, saw his pay package rise nearly 20 per cent in the last financial year as he achieved many of the mobile phone group&#39;s internal performance targets.
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Vodafone will primarily target the under-35's, a group which it characterized as the "young, active, fun" market.
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Shares in British mobile phone group Vodafone jumped Thursday to the highest level for about five and a half years on speculation linking it to a European distribution deal for Apple&#39;s iPhone.
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Nokia , the world's top cellphone maker, reported a 57 percent rise in earnings per share from October to December, with booming demand in emerging markets boosting its global market share to 40 percent.
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Cell phone giant Vodafone Group PLC, which has spent years struggling to recoup billions spent on 3G licences, finally launched the cutting-edge service Wednesday in much of Europe and introduced or beefed up its operation in a dozen other countries.
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Vodafone says it remains keen on purchases in France, eastern Europe and fast growing Asia and Africa after detailing annual cost cuts
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Global mobile phone sales grew 35% to over 150 million in the second quarter, say industry analysts Gartner.
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Growth is returning to the global wireless giant.
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Vodafone is interested in more deals in emerging markets, the UK mobile phone group said on Tuesday as it reported a 4 per cent increase in operating profit in 2006-07.
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In many poor and emerging countries, the lack of banking infrastructure but widespread use of mobile phones has created a business opportunity that network operators are keen to exploit.
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European share indexes opened a touch firmer on Wednesday as a deluge of company updates flooded the market, with mobile phone giant Vodafone leading the way higher after posting a big rise in subscriber numbers.
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Mobile phone group Vodafone said Thursday that it won 9.1 million new customers during its first quarter, almost double the amount a year earlier, owing to strong growth in emerging markets.