Vodafone wins 9,000 customers in Q2

Vodafone Malta has seen an increase of 9,000 mobile telephony customers in the second quarter of the year, according to Vodafone Group's interim management statement for the quarter ended June 30 released on Friday.

The operator now has 210,000 customers, 85 per cent of which are subscribed to pre-paid tariffs, the statement revealed.

Vodafone Group has seen revenue for the quarter rise 9.3 per cent to £10.7 billion. Service revenue in Europe is up by 4.4 per cent, driven by foreign exchange.

The revenue increase included the positive impact of exchange rate movements of 8.6 percentage points and 3.1 percentage point benefit from merger and acquisition activity, primarily attributable to the additional stake in Vodacom.

Group organic service revenue declined by 2.1 per cent due to weakness across most of Europe and central Europe resulting from recessionary factors. Good growth was registered in India, South Africa and Italy.

"In the first quarter, the service revenue trend in Europe was consistent with the previous quarter and we continued to see good growth in India and South Africa," Vodafone Group chief executive officer Vittorio Colao said.

"Our total communications strategy is delivering well with organic data revenue up 19 per cent and organic fixed line revenue seven per cent ahead of the comparative period. Free cash flow generation was strong at £1.9 billion, up 21 per cent. The group reaffirmed its guidance for the full year."