“Turning point” for Vodafone as H1 Group revenue up 1pc to £18.4 billion

UK service revenue remained flat at £3.08 billion but EBITDA grew 1.1pc to £669 million

Vodafone UK has seen its revenue remain flat at £3.08 billion for the six months ending September 30, as EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) saw organic growth of 1.1 per cent to £669 million.

National 4G coverage reached 82 per cent, with 99 per cent of the London population covered, and its 4G base up to 5.3 million, from 1.1 million the year before.

Overall, Vodafone UK’s customer base remained steady at 18.3 million, up 20,000 from July 30. It added 90,000 contract customers, with postpaid making up 65.9 per cent of its base.Pre-pay connections fell by 49,000.

Fixed service revenue declined 0.9 per cent. Excluding carrier services, fixed revenue was flat for the second quarter, including, an improving performance in Enterprise.

After regional trials during the summer, Vodafone launched its consumer broadband service to 22 million premises across the UK (95 per of BT’s fibre footprint) in October, with its new TV service to follow in Q4.

Group revenue up 1pc to £18.4 billion

Overall, service revenue at the Vodafone Group grew organically by one per cent to £18.4 billion, boosted by strong growth in the AMAP region (Africa, Middel-East and Asia Pacific), which grew organically by 6.4 per cent to £5.9 billion.

It also saw a return to EBITDA growth during the six month period, up 1.9 per cent (organically) to £5.7 billion.

Vodafone Group said it now has 4G coverage in 80 per cent of Europe, with 29.9 million 4G customers across its 454 million subscriber base (up five million during the three months ending September 30).

European numbers made up almost a quarter of Vodafone Group’s overall base, with 121,544 ubscriptions.

Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said: “We have reached an important turning point for the Group with a return to organic growth in service revenue and EBITDA in the first half of the financial year. Our customers are benefiting from the significant investments we are making in high speed mobile and fixed networks, as evidenced by the huge growth in demand for data and the increased loyalty to Vodafone services.

“We are achieving 4G leadership in Europe, organic revenue growth in fixed and enterprise and sustained commercial momentum in emerging markets, all of which is consistent with our long- term strategy and which is being accelerated through our Project Spring investments. We also remain keenly focused on increasing efficiency and improving margins. We expect progress to continue in the second half of the year.”