Vodafone benefits from 'commercial momentum' and price increases in Ireland

German law halting automatic renewals caused the phone and broadband group to shed tens of thousands of customers there

Vodafone said customer losses in Germany have begun to abate, and is growing both revenue and customers in Ireland. Stock picture

Vodafone is making progress towards resolving issues in its biggest market, Germany, its chief executive said.

The mobile phone and broadband group said it lost 79,000 TV and 64,000 broadband customers in the first quarter, resulting in a 0.5% decline in service revenue in the country after a new law ended automatic renewals and an IT system underperformed.

However, it said customer losses were not as bad as in the previous quarter after it fixed IT problems, and churn related to the law that came into effect in December started to abate.

In Ireland, it said “revenue growth was driven by strong commercial momentum” as well as by consumer contract price increases.

Chief executive Nick Read said the group had made good progress towards stabilising its German operation.

Shares in Vodafone, which have risen 10% in the last 12 months, were little changed.

In Britain, Vodafone has been in talks with Hutchison’s Three network, according to reports. Mr Read declined to comment on any potential deal but reiterated there was room for consolidation in Britain.

Its Irish operations are included in its “other Europe markets”, which include Portugal, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Albania. 

Service revenue across the division increased by 2.5%, while in Ireland “revenue growth was driven by strong commercial momentum, and also supported by contractual price increases in the consumer segment. Our mobile contract customer base increased by 14,000”, it said.

• Reuters and Irish Examiner