Vodafone posted strong figures for three month period ended 31 December 2007, with group revenue of 9.2 billion, an increase of 15.8 per cent from 2006.
In Europe, service revenue growth in the business segment, which accounted for 28 per cent of European service revenue, was up by 4.8 per cent. Vodafone said that this was partly because of strong sales of handheld business devices.
Vodafone mobile connect cards sold well, fuelled by the popularity of the Vodafone mobile connect USB modem devices. Over 4.9 million customers had taken up these services across the group, which was an increase of 107 per cent from the same period a year before.
Messaging revenue was up 8.1 per cent and data revenue 35.5 per cent, which showed an increase of data transfer in media messaging, mobile broadband and the mobile web by users. At the end of the year Vodafone had a customer base of 252.3 million, up 10.8 million from December 2006.
"We have sustained our recent momentum in the third quarter, executing on our strategic objectives in competitive markets, with over 250 million proportionate customers driving strong growth in voice usage and data revenue," said Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive.
During the period the figures were taken, Vodafone had completed the acquisition of Tele2's operations in Spain and Italy, which now meant that it now had 3.1 million DSL customers. Also, it had completed a site-sharing agreement in Italy and an IT outsourcing agreement in India in a drive to cut costs.
"We are also maintaining our rigorous focus on costs across the group, positioning us well to sustain our progress," Sarin said.
Fixed location pricing plans were now available in 12 markets for both business and consumers and there were now 2.9 million Vodafone Office customers on fixed location tariffs.
