Latest from Vodafone:



Vodafone UK results for the quarter ending March 2014 (Jan-Mar 2014). Comparatives are with the previous quarter (Oct-Dec 2013) and the same quarter a year ago (Jan-Mar 2013)

Mobile service revenue: £1021m (2013 Oct-Dec: £1045m, 2013 Jan-Mar: £1075m)

Mobile Customers (Total): 19.492m (2013 Dec: 19.368m, 2013 Mar: 19.221m)
Mobile Customers (Prepaid): 7.816m (2013 Dec: 7.849m, 2013 Mar: 8.116m)
Mobile Customers (Contract): 11.676m (2013 Dec: 11.519m, 2013 Mar: 11.105m)

4G Customers: 0.637m (2013 Dec: 0.370m)

Smartphone penetration: 61.3% (2013 Dec: 60.5%, 2013 Mar: 55.7%)

http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/...prelim2014.pdf

That smartphone penetration is rocketing...assume that's being driven by 4G take up.

More to do with the cost dropping and now smartphones being more affordable for everyone, this year there are more low cost smartphones coming out.

61% is a good figure for Vodafone given O2 is stuck at 50%.

you really have to try hard to not buy a smart phone these days.

Not really...... what about the 1000's that buy phones for kids and the elderly for emergency contact? The shelves of Tesco, Asda etc are stacked with £4.99 - £29.99 feature phones so there must be a demand for them still.

Not everyone wants a smartphone and I know several where I work who refuse to upgrade to anything that has internet facilities!

Not anything to do with the UK and obviously just a one off but because of the profit recorded on the sale of their Verizon Wireless share (~£45billion), Vodafone's overall profit for the year was £59.4 billion. A quick Wikipedia suggests this is way above the previous largest corporate profit in history for a single year (Exxon $45.2b in 2008). Vodafone is also 13th and 15th on the biggest losses list too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...its_and_losses

Although premium 4G subscriptions have almost doubled these figures must still be dissapointing for Vodafone.

Of all the networks I always wonder why anyone would choose Vodafone as ive always found them to be poor value for money with no really good unique selling point. Still figures are up on the whole regardless.

I understand thanks.

what i'm saying is that the increased penetration of smart phones is more about the technology than vodafone.

Not sure that's true...how would you explain the slow take up in O2

O2 do have a higher proportion of customers on pay as you go compared with the others which might provide a partial explanation (smartphone usage is much lower for payg than contract).

As I sit here with no 3G, on EDGE that doesn't even work, I seriously wonder how it is possible for the WORST network to be the only network to make consistant gains in customers.

Latest quarterly figures for Vodafone:


Vodafone UK results for the quarter ending June 2014 (Apr-Jun 2014). Comparatives are with the previous quarter (Jan-Mar 2014) and the same quarter a year ago (Apr-Jun 2014)

Mobile service revenue: £1031m (2014 Jan-Mar: £1017m, 2013 Apr-Jun: £1042m)

Mobile Customers (Total): 19.572m (2014 Mar: 19.492m, 2013 Jun: 19.209m)
Mobile Customers (Prepaid): 7.845m (2014 Mar: 7.825m, 2013 Jun: 8.013m)
Mobile Customers (Contract): 11.727m (2014 Mar: 11.667m, 2013 Jun: 11.196m)

4G Customers: 0.9m (2013 Dec: 0.637m)

Smartphone penetration: 62.4% (2014 Mar: 61.3%, 2013 Jun: 57.0%)

http://www.vodafone.com/content/inde...0june2014.html

Time to break out the graph.

EE are currently at 4,183,000 4G customers since launch and Vodafone are at 900,000 4G subscribers.
In the same time frame EE and Vodafone had around the same customer base in terms of numbers. EE was ever so slightly higher.

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...pse20cbeb9.jpg

Think their 4G numbers will be held back by continuing to charge for it. In reality they are pretty much the only ones doing it now. Also no PAYG / 30 day contracts. That surely must change.

Yup. All other networks have really solidified their 4G offerings now but Vodafone still insist on going the traditional way first.

EE have a huge customer base in T-Mobile and Orange who are being moved over to the EE network so that's why they've grown so much in the past year. Vodafone do have a large customer base but they don't really have a range of 4G handsets or deals at competitive prices. That means a lot of their customers won't see an incentive in moving to a higher cost 4G tariff just yet

What you're graph does not show is that Vodafone are extracting additional revenue from their 900k.

I'd certainly prefer 900k paying me £5+ a month more, than just giving away my new technology for free to my existing base.

You really can't compare the two.

When all said and done revenue is the important number, vodafone are the only networking achieving incremental revenue with each 4G customer. From my view they are they ones writing the better business.

There is a reason only Vodafone and EE are on that graph. Because they are the only networks that aren't giving 4G at the same price as their 3G plans.

That's why I'm comparing them.

Besides, there are thousands of reasons why there would be differences in customer numbers. And I never said vodafone weren't making more / less or whatever. You really do defend Vodafone no matter what don't you.

EE for a long time have been upgrading T-mob and Orange customers to EE 4G at no extra charge, i've a few friends that pay the same now as they used to on the other brands.

As have vodafone...

I've not seen or heard of one single case where a Vodafone customer had been allowed to move onto a 4G plan with the content bundles and extra data at no additional cost.

I presume you asked all 20 million customers?

I've seen evidence of customers paying X amount and upgrading to a new contract at the same price or even a lower price with 4G.

A mate of mine was moved onto 4G at no extra cost when he upgraded, something about Red? whatever that is.

Vodafone RED is Vodafone's flagship tariff which comes with Unlimited Minutes/Texts and a set amount of 4G data. You also get a choice of Sky Sports, Spotify or Netflix for up to 24 months included in the tariff. The tariff also comes with Vodafone's 5 star care, price promise and Euro traveller for just £2 per day as well as data test drive and BT Wi-Fi hotspot access.

Well O2 results are next week. I think we're due the 6 monthly figures from Three soon too.

So for Half 1 this means-

EE: -235k
Voda: +204k

I'd say O2 are going to stand still this half and maybe even lose a small amount of customers.
Same with Three, whilst I do expect them to grow I really don't see them growing by more than 50k-75k customers this half.