Vodafone gains customers - but competition clearly ahead
After a lean period including job cuts, telecommunications provider Vodafone is gradually getting back on track. Service sales in Germany in the summer quarter rose by 1.1 percent to around 2.9 billion euros compared to the same period last year, the subsidiary of the British group announced in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. Previously, the company had recorded five consecutive quarters of declining sales, with sales falling by 1.3 percent in the spring quarter of 2023 and by as much as 2.8 percent in the previous quarter - which was the low point.
Operating earnings (EBITDA AL, adjusted consolidated operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization including lease expenses) amounted to around EUR 2.5 billion in the first half of the Vodafone financial year 2023/24, which runs until the end of March, a slight decrease compared to the same period of the previous year. A quarterly figure for the operating result in Germany was not published. The company, which offers both fixed-network and mobile contracts, explained the loss primarily with higher energy costs.
In the face of strong competition, Vodafone remains under pressure. The number of mobile contract customers grew by 69,000 in the second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, which runs until the end of March, and thus more strongly than in the first quarter (24,000). However, the competition is doing much better: Deutsche Telekom recently added around 420,000 mobile contract customers and Telefónica (O2) around 400,000.
Vodafone Germany CEO Philippe Rogge assessed his company's development as positive. "The figures show: The path we have taken is the right one." The efforts of the past few months are making themselves felt, said the manager, explaining the upswing with a better network and more services for customers. Vodafone has a good 15,000 employees in Germany, around a third of them in Düsseldorf.
Despite the positive sales growth in Germany and an increase in mobile contract customers, Vodafone continues to face intense competition in the telecommunications sector. The company's quarterly figures for operating earnings showed a slight decrease compared to the previous year, mainly due to higher energy costs. [The company's] Internet services and telecommunications solutions have been instrumental in attracting new customers, as evidenced by the Q2 increase of 69,000 mobile contract customers.
Source: www.dpa.com
