Vodafone reports strong customer growth
Mobile phone group Vodafone today said it had seen its strongest quarterly customer growth in three years.
Newbury-based Vodafone said it had added more than 4.3 million customers in the three months to December 31, taking its total customer base to more than 130.4 million.
It acquired 68,000 new customers in Ireland, 72% of which were prepaid.
Its total data revenues increased 2% on the previous year, to 15.9% of controlled service revenues for the year to December 2003.
Vodafone's average revenue per user was up in Italy (€4), and Britain (€2.90), stable in Germany at €311, and reduced in Japan (€14.23), compared to September 2003.
Ireland's average revenue per user was €582 for 2003, and over a fifth (20.5%) of services was for non-voice (text) services.
Vodafone said Singlepoint, the mobile phone service operation it bought for £405m (€586m) from millionaire entrepreneur John Caudwell last year, also contributed, helping to lift the company’s blended average revenue per user (ARPU) – a key industry measure – by 2% to £303 (€438) in the year to December.
Chief executive Arun Sarin, said: "Overall, these figures are slightly better than our expectations and are consistent with the outlook we gave at out interim results. This solid performance provides a strong platform for the year ahead."
