Vodafone sales boosted as travelling brings in roaming fees

Telecoms giant Vodafone has revealed a recovery in mobile phone sales since the pandemic, with increased customer loyalty across Europe.

In the UK, revenues jumped 6% to 3.2 billion euros (£2.7 billion) in the six months to the end of September, although part of this jump was due to a favourable exchange rate.

Customers also started travelling again, boosting Vodafone’s bottom line through roaming charges and visitor revenues to the UK, the company said.

Revenues from mobile services rose 1.3% thanks to strong growth in its consumer division, offsetting a fall in its business connections services.

A further 149,000 mobile contract customers were added with strong growth in digital sales, which now make up 33% of total business in the UK.

Contract churn remained stable at 12.5% year-on-year, the company added, and bosses said they recently launched an exclusive retail partnership with Dixons with improved terms compared to previous arrangements.

However, the business division struggled as the company revealed it pulled out of a large but unprofitable multinational contract and a reseller went into administration.

The return to growth in the UK comes after several quarters of falling revenues and made it one of Vodafone’s strongest markets.

By comparison, its largest region – Germany – saw service revenue growth of 0.9% whilst Italy and Spain both fell 2.8% and 0.7% respectively.

Globally, revenues rose from 21.4 billion euros (£18 billion) to 22.5 billion euros (£19 billion), although pre-tax profits fell 24% to 1.3 billion euros (£1.1 billion).

Published: 16/11/2021 by Radio NewsHub