Vodafone no longer market leader

VODAFONE was yesterday facing up to life without the title of the world’s largest mobile phone company.

The Newbury-based group has lost its crown to China Mobile, a company which was only set up in 2000 and now has a market value of £69.7 billion (€103bn), against £57.9 billion (€86bn) for Vodafone.

The change in the world order came last week after Vodafone shares lost 6% of their value and China Mobile extended recent gains, which have lifted its Hong Kong-listed share price by 46% over the past year.

The Sunday Telegraph said China Mobile also claimed to be the world’s largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers. It has more than 200 million customers while the most recent figure from Vodafone shows 186.8 million worldwide.

Vodafone’s turnover is still ahead of China Mobile’s.

The loss of top spot is another blow to Vodafone after several months of boardroom upheaval culminated in nearly 10% of Vodafone shareholders voting against the re-election of chief executive Arun Sarin last month.

Since Mr Sarin, 51, took over the helm three years ago, the FTSE 100 Index giant has risen 40% but Vodafone shares have dropped 5%.

The company has struggled to add customers in a competitive European marketplace, with its UK customer base falling by 119,000 in its most recent quarter.

The company is the largest operator in the Irish market with over 2 million customers.

China Mobile has nearly 40% of the Chinese market.