ISP Vodafone UK Grows Fixed Broadband to 793,000 Customers

Mobile and broadband ISP Vodafone UK have published their latest results to the end of June 2020 (financial Q1 FY21), which saw their fixed broadband base grow to total 793,000 customers (up by +42K in the quarter vs +64K in the previous quarter), while their mobile based declined to 17,580,000 (down by -462K).

As usual Vodafone has seen a number of important developments over the past few months, although most of them stem from their mobile network. For example, the operator has deployed a 4G service to its first rural village under the new £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) agreement (here) and they became the first UK operator to deploy “Standalone 5G” technology, albeit only at a single location (here).

Meanwhile the on-going wait for WiFi Calling to gain SMS support has been causing some annoyance (here). Similarly, customers of their home superfast broadband (FTTC) packages have been left confused by the vanishing act of their “Ultimate Speed Guarantee” (here), which Vodafone says hasn’t been removed even though it’s no longer mentioned.

The other big development has been the operator’s introduction of Vantage Towers as their new tower infrastructure company for Europe (i.e. managing access for over 68,000 towers across 9 markets), which is said to be on-track for IPO in early 2021 (i.e. floating itself on to the stock market). Apparently, Vodafone’s Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (CTIL) portfolio (network sharing agreement with O2 UK), with 14,300 sites in the UK, may be added with the inclusion of Vodafone’s 50% equity stake in CTIL.

Otherwise this latest quarter covers the period from April to June, which is of course the time-frame most likely to have experienced significant disruption as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Suffice to say that it’s probably best to take the results this time around with a pinch of salt as they may not be terribly representative.

Nick Read, Group CEO, said:

“Our trading performance in the first quarter demonstrates the relative resilience of our operating model and focused delivery of our strategic priorities. Whilst we have seen the direct impact on our revenue from travel restrictions and business project delays, we have also seen increased usage in voice and data, alongside record NGN broadband customer net additions in Europe.

I am also delighted to introduce Vantage Towers as Europe’s leading tower infrastructure company. A year ago, I set out a three-phase plan for our towers to deliver industrial synergies from network infrastructure sharing, generate operational efficiencies by establishing a dedicated towers management team, and unlock value for our shareholders through the IPO of Vantage Towers, which is firmly on track for early 2021.

The role Vodafone plays in society has never been more important, particularly as the markets in which we operate continue to face challenging conditions. We have executed well in delivering on our social contract to provide fast and reliable connectivity for our customers. We will continue to work collaboratively with governments and policy makers to create the right environment for investment in essential services and ensure our customers receive the best overall experience.”

Overall, the operator saw their service revenue fall to €1,287m (down from €1,287m in the previous quarter). The full report is here (PDF). Some readers have also been asking us about the status of Vodafone’s move to add Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) services, which are intended to complement their existing work alongside Cityfibre’s FTTH network in various UK cities.

At present ISPreview.co.uk has been informed by Vodafone that they are currently making progress with a “small number of trial users” as they “continue preparations” to launch the new FTTP packages. We hope to have a bigger development to announce in the near future.