Ranjana Kaushal
With the voice market showing signs of saturation in the European market Vodafone is banking on data to fuel its growth in future. Leading telecom operator Vodafone is looking at data services to drive its future growth in Europe. According to a company spokesperson “ As per our new strategy in November 2010 we plan to create a more valuable business and establish Vodafone as the leading operator in mobile data across Europe, Africa and India and further develop our market position in total communications”.
Recently, the telecom regulator Ofcom opened frequency access to 3G technology. The move this will help players such as Telefonica SA’s O2 and Vodafone Group Plc to offer more applications such as video on new smart phone models .Earlier addressing an analyst meet Vittorio Colao ,chief executive, Vodafone Group, stated that the company had focused on the right areas of growth, especially mobile data. “We got a fantastic 23 per cent average increase over the period. The business is today £5 billion. These are 27 operations, and 22 number one or number two positions in the market. There is good balance, 70/30 consumer/enterprise, and good balance, more or less 70/30 mature/emerging”, Mr Colao said.
In the second quarter Vodafone saw a strong recovery in UK, the revenue growth rates were up as the improved device range and the extended distribution led to good customer growth. As a result there was an improvement in mobile ARPU.The company added 122,000 UK customers during the third quarter of this year, taking its total base to 18.98 million.
Andy Halford ,chief financial officer, Vodafone Group, stated during analyst call “The three highest growth established businesses in the group in the half year were, in order: Turkey, 27% increase; Ghana, 18% increase; and India with a 15% increase in revenue”
The company during the interim results in November 2010, reported revenue from data and emerging markets contributed more than mature voice services for the first time. The mobile data grew at nearly 26% in the last reported quarter.The group data as a percentage of service revenue is forecast to rise to close to 16% by 2013.Says the company spokesperson , “We are transitioning our data pricing plans to tiered plans and differentiated service levels to encourage data adoption and adjust pricing to usage. This will give customers more control, avoid confusion over so-called ‘unlimited data plans’ and drive better returns on our investment”.
The spokesperson says “ Vodafone continues to believe that it is not liable for any tax on this transaction involving the transfer of a company outside of India. Further, Vodafone was the acquirer and not the vendor and has made no gain on the transaction. In this “test case”, the tax authority is attempting to interpret Indian law as it has never been interpreted for the past 50 years, and this interpretation also goes against internationally recognised tax norms”.
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