Vodafone has sales boost on cable TV acquisition

Vodafone reported an acceleration in its main quarterly sales growth yesterday as a cable television acquisition in its biggest market, Germany, helped to lift sales and consolidate an overall return to growth for the British firm.

The world’s second-largest mobile operator, which reported a return to quarterly sales growth for the first time in nearly three years in May, has been hit hard by the constraints on consumer spending in its big European markets, fierce competition in India, and by regulator-imposed price cuts around the world.

It said yesterday that first-quarter organic service revenue grew 0.8%, ahead of the 0.1% it recorded in the previous three months.

“Our emerging markets have maintained their strong momentum and more of our European businesses are returning to growth, as customer demand for 4G and data takes off,” chief executive Vittorio Colao said.

Organic sales in Germany, where Vodafone is battling against incumbent Deutsche Telekom, were down 1.2%, compared with the 3.5% fall in the fourth quarter, but that was helped by the inclusion of its Kabel Deutschland TV business.

Vodafone’s British market returned to growth while Italy showed signs of stabilising.