Vodafone Group talked up stability in Europe and continued growth momentum in AMAP (Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific) during Q1, but the picture was not all rosy.

With regard to Europe, the company noted regulatory pressure on roaming revenue, with a “good performance in Germany, Spain and Italy”. But Netherlands and Greece suffered, and Vodafone UK in particular was weak, against a backdrop of issues related to its IT systems in this market.

European service revenue of €8.13 billion was down 1.7 per cent on a reported basis, but up 0.3 per cent organically. Organic gains of 1.6 per cent in Germany, 1.3 per cent in Spain, and 1.2 per cent in Italy contrasted with a drop of 3.2 per cent in the UK.

For AMAP, the company called out “excellent performance in South Africa, Turkey and Egypt and ongoing recovery in India”.

AMAP service revenue of €3.91 billion was down 5.5 per cent on a reported basis, but up 7.7 per cent organically as the company noted a significant foreign exchange impact from South Africa, Turkey, Egypt and India.

4G base doubles
On a group level, the company doubled its 4G customer base year-on-year to 52.5 million across 21 markets, with 5.7 million added during the quarter. With only 30 per cent of European customers taking 4G services, there is a “very substantial opportunity for future growth”.

As of 30 June, the company had 464.6 million mobile customers, of which 343.7 million sat in the AMAP segment. Indeed, 199.4 million came from India alone, compared with 120.9 million for all of Europe.

It also had 13.7 million fixed broadband customers, of which 12.6 million were in Europe (with 5.9 million in Germany and 3 million in Spain).

On a group level, revenue of €13.4 billion was down 4.5 per cent, and group service revenue of €12.3 billion was down 3.3 per cent.

Organically, group service revenue increased by 2.2 per cent.