Despite the cut in roaming fees, most of its main markets in Europe were still showing underlying growth. Organic service revenue for the three months to June was up 1.6 percent year-on-year in Germany, 1.3 percent in Spain and 1.2 percent in Italy; the UK posted a decline, of 3.2 percent, and the Netherlands and Greece were also lower. In its biggest emerging markets, growth reached 6.4 percent in India, 19.5 percent in Turkey and 9.4 percent in Egypt.
Total revenue was still down 4.5 percent to EUR 13.377 billion, with a 5.4 point negative impact from exchange rates. On a reported basis, service revenue fell 1.7 percent in Europe to EUR 8.129 billion, and AMAP was down 5.5 percent to EUR 3.906 billion. Vodafone said trading was in line with its expectations for the full year and maintained its outlook for fiscal 2017.
The mobile customer base increased by 2.3 million in the three months, led by growth in India, Egypt and Turkey, to a total 464.585 million. Fixed broadband customers rose by 348,000 to 13.721 million, with strong growth in Germany and Turkey.
Vodafone also continued to expand data customers, with 52.5 million using 4G in the quarter, double the amount a year earlier. Data traffic in in the quarter grew 63 percent, a small slowdown from 67 percent in the previous quarter. Still, only 30 percent of customers in Europe use 4G, and Vodafone sees room for growth here, noting customers who move to 4G typically buy bigger data packages and see their data consumption double. Already over half its data traffic in Europe is over 4G, driving a 57 percent annual increase in data consumption to an average 1.3 GB per month. In emerging markets, the 3G/4G mobile data customer base numbered 88.9 million, up 50.7 percent year-on-year.
Amid other growth initiatives, Vodafone highlighted its efforts under the 'Customer eXperience eXcellence' (CXX) programme. This includes its 'Network Guarantee', now available in 14 markets, and new loyalty programmes in 16 markets, which have helped reduce consumer contract churn by 0.3 percent points year-on-year to 16.6 percent. It's also expanded 4G roaming options, and over half its customers in Europe were taking roaming add-ons for the first time. The CCX initiatives, which are also tied to staff incentives, will continue with the aim of achieving the best net promoter score in all its markets.
