OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2012. Group service revenue increased 0.6%*; excluding mobile termination rate (‘MTR’) cuts growth was 2.3%*
Continued strong service revenue growth in emerging markets: Vodacom 5.7%*, India 16.2%* and Turkey 18.7%*
Mixed trends in Europe: service revenue growth strong in Germany at 4.2%*; UK -0.8%* due to increased competition and a weaker economy; conditions in Italy (-7.7%*) and Spain (-10.0%*) remain challenging
Verizon Wireless (‘VZW’) service revenue grew 8.2%* driven by data
Group data revenue grew 17.1%* reflecting an increase in Europe smartphone penetration to 28.7%
Ј0.9 billion of free cash flow after capital investment of Ј1.1 billion
Good progress in strengthening our business: proposed acquisitions of Cable & Wireless Worldwide and TelstraClear; network sharing agreements in five markets
Net debt reduced to Ј22.7 billion after receipt of final SoftBank proceeds (Ј1.5 billion) and Ј0.8 billion of share buybacks (Ј6.8 billion share buyback programmes almost complete)
Full year outlook confirmed    


Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, commented
 “Despite the difficult market conditions, particularly in southern Europe, we continue to make progress in the key areas of data, enterprise and emerging markets, while maintaining tight control of our cost base. We remain focused on driving through significant improvements to our customers’ experience through our ongoing investment in our networks, stores and IT platforms.”