BENGALURU: Vodafone Group Plc announced results for the quarter ended 31 December, 2014 (Q3-2015). Group revenue was ?10.9 billion and Group service revenue was ?9.8 billion. On an organic basis Group service revenue decreased 0.4 per cent (Q2-2015: -1.5 per cent) and, excluding the impact of mobile termination rate (‘MTR’) cuts, Group service revenue grew 0.2 per cent (Q2-2015: -0.9 per cent).
At the time of writing this report 1 (one) British Pound Sterling (?) equals 94.27 Indian Rupees (Rs)
Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said, “We have achieved another quarter of improving revenue trends in most of our major markets. Growth in India has accelerated again, driven by data. In Europe, improved commercial execution in both mobile and fixed over the last few quarters, combined with strong data demand and a more stable pricing environment, is supporting the steady recovery in the top line. Our recent cable acquisitions continue to perform well, with good progress made on integration.
“Our Project Spring investment programme is well advanced, with 4G coverage in Europe now 65 per cent, dropped call rates down to 0.64 per cent, and 26 million homes now passed by our own next generation networks: our customers are really beginning to notice the difference in experience that this investment delivers. We are confident that, over time, this will translate into further improvements in customer perception, ARPU and churn,” he added.
India numbers
Vodafone India revenue in Q3-2015 increased 17.1 per cent to ?1103 million from ?937 million in Q3-2014. The breakup of India services are: Mobile In-bundle revenue of ?221 million in Q3-2015 was 44.4 per cent more than the ?153 million in the year ago quarter. Mobile out-of-bundle revenue was up 9.3 per cent to ?647 million in the current quarter from ?592 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. Mobile incoming revenue at ?152 million in Q3-2015 was 6.2 per cent lower than the ?162 million in Q3-2014. Fixed line revenue went up almost seven fold to ?48 million from ?7 million in Q3-2014. ‘Other’ revenue increased 52.2 per cent to ?35 million in Q3-2015 from ?23 million in Q3-2014.
Excerpts from Vodafone quarterly earnings:
Service revenue increased 15.0 per cent (Q2-2015- 13.2 per cent), with an acceleration in quarterly revenue trends driven by data uptake and customer growth.
Data revenue continued to grow strongly, with mobile internet revenue up 70 per cent. This was supported by 30 per cent growth in data customers to 59 million, of which 16.6 million were 3G, and 40 per cent growth in average data usage per customer. Voice rates per minute remained flat, with average minutes of use down 6.6 per cent. Total mobile customers increased 4.8 million in the quarter giving a closing customer base of 178.7 million.
We continue to make good progress on Project Spring with 5,500 radio sites added in the quarter, (26,000 since the build commenced) taking our 3G outdoor coverage in targeted urban areas to 90 per cent. The expansion of our retail store footprint also remains on track. M-Pesa continues to expand and now has 337,000 active customers, generating 78,000 transactions per day, supported by over 85,000 agents.
Click here to read interim management statement for the quarter
Click here to read Vodafone Group’s interim management statement
