OREANDA-NEWS.  Group service revenue declined -2.6%*; or -0.4%* excluding mobile termination rate (‘MTR’) cuts

Decline in Northern and Central Europe service revenue: Germany -0.2%*, UK -5.2%*
Conditions in Southern Europe remain challenging: Italy -13.8%*, Spain -11.3%*
Continued growth in emerging markets1: India +9.0%*, Vodacom +1.9%*, Turkey +18.4%*
Verizon Wireless (‘VZW’) service revenue grew +8.7%* driven by strong customer additions
Group data revenue grew +12.8%* reflecting an increase in European smartphone penetration to 33.4%
LTE services launched in Italy, South Africa, Greece and Romania; LTE now available in six markets
Net debt reduced to Ј23.3 billion after receipt of Ј2.4 billion VZW dividend
Vodafone Red launched in five markets; 48.3% of European mobile service revenue now in-bundle
Full year guidance for adjusted operating profit and free cash flow confirmed  


Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, commented:

“Our results continue to reflect very difficult market conditions in Europe. We are addressing this through firm actions on cost efficiency, and continuing to invest in areas of growth potential. We continue to make progress in our Vodafone 2015 strategy, with good revenue growth in data and emerging markets, the launch of LTE services in another four markets and the acquisition of new spectrum. Vodafone Red, our new strategic pricing approach in Europe, has been launched in five markets with positive early take-up, and to drive growth in enterprise we have created a new enterprise business unit and accelerated our integration plans for Cable & Wireless Worldwide.”