{"id":21640,"date":"2020-05-12T08:09:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T07:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=21640"},"modified":"2020-05-13T07:51:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T06:51:14","slug":"vodafone-uk-home-broadband-growth-surges-to-751000-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2020\/05\/vodafone-uk-home-broadband-growth-surges-to-751000-users.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodafone UK Home Broadband Growth Surges to 751000 Users UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobile giant and broadband ISP Vodafone<\/a> UK has published their latest results to the end of March 2020 (financial Q4 19\/20), which saw them reach a total of 751,000 fixed broadband customers (up by +64K in the quarter vs +20K previous quarter). Meanwhile Mobile customers hit 18,042,000 (down by -14K vs +250K previous quarter)<\/p>\n

At present it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from Vodafone<\/a>’s last quarter, which is due to the unprecedented impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19<\/strong>), although it would appear as if their cheap home fixed broadband packages (FTTC<\/a> and FTTH<\/a>) have attracted a surge in take-up during the first calendar quarter of 2020. Despite this the growth in their mobile division has ground to a halt (more on that later).<\/p>\n

Otherwise the other main developments for Vodafone<\/a> UK during the quarter stemmed from their \u00a31bn Shared Rural Network<\/strong> agreement with rivals (here<\/a>) and the decision to extend new “unlimited data<\/em>” allowances to their dedicated Mobile Broadband plans (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the operator saw their fixed service revenues increase by just 1.7% (Q3: 0.5%, Q4: 3.7%) , although we suspect that most of the new fixed broadband customers they added came from their Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>) based FTTC<\/a> (VDSL2<\/a>) packages. Sadly no details are provided to show how many customers may have joined via Cityfibre<\/a>’s newer and faster FTTH<\/a> broadband network, but that will be having a growing impact.<\/p>\n

In terms of Vodafone’s mobile customers, it’s noted that +51,000 were added in the latest quarter from contract customers (vs 134,000 in the previous quarter), while prepaid (PAYG) customers declined by -65,000 (vs +116,000 in the previous quarter).<\/p>\n

Nick Read, Group CEO, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Vodafone has delivered a good financial performance – growing revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow – whilst building strong commercial momentum through the year and executing at pace on our strategic priorities.<\/p>\n

We have also continued to invest in our fixed and mobile Gigabit network infrastructure and digital services, to provide faster speeds for our customers, as well as successfully managing the recent surges in demand. The services Vodafone provides are more important than ever and we are committed to playing a key role in society’s recovery to the ‘new normal’.<\/p>\n

I am pleased with the rapid, comprehensive and coordinated way we responded to the COVID-19 crisis. I want to give my personal thanks to the entire Vodafone team, who through their dedication, expertise and professionalism, have kept families, friends and communities connected, enabled students to continue their education, helped businesses operate and proactively supported governments to deliver critical services.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Otherwise Vodafone’s overall UK service revenue for the quarter hit \u20ac1,287m (up slightly from \u20ac1,282m in the previous quarter). The full report is here<\/a> (PDF). Meanwhile we’re still waiting to see whether or not Vodafone reacts to O2<\/a>’s recent agreement to merge with Virgin Media<\/a> in the UK.<\/p>\n

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