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The
mobile phone and broadband group said it lost 79,000 TV and
64,000 broadband customers in the first quarter, resulting in a
0.5% decline in service revenue in the country after a new law
ended automatic renewals and an IT system underperformed.
But it said customer losses were not as bad as in the previous
quarter after it fixed IT problems, and churn related to the law
that came into effect in December started to abate.
Chief Executive Nick Read said the British group had made good
progress towards stabilising its German operation.
"We're on track to resolve the issues in Germany by the end of
the summer as planned, which will further support a gradual
recovery in our commercial performance," Read told reporters.
Vodafone's service revenue growth accelerated slightly
quarter-on-quarter to 2.5%, helped by Turkey, where high
inflation is providing a boost, and Britain.
It said it was on track to hit its full-year targets.
Shares in Vodafone, which have risen 10% in the last 12 months,
were flat at 129 pence.
Read said in November he was pursuing consolidation in Europe,
as well as opportunities for its Vantage Towers business.
Vodafone has not announced any big deals since.
Two of its three major rivals in Spain - Orange and MasMovil -
signed a $19 billion merger in Spain on Saturday.
"We continue to actively pursue opportunities with Vantage
Towers and to strengthen our market positions in Europe," Read
said. Market turbulence had added "a degree of complexity" to
talks, he said, but a "lot was going on behind the scenes".
"We are progressing across the four markets that we identified,"
he said.
One is Britain, where Vodafone has been in talks with
Hutchison's Three network, according to reports. Read declined
to comment on any potential deal but reiterated there was room
for consolidation in Britain.
(Editing by David Evans and David Holmes)
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