Revenues dip at Vodafone Ireland as parent reports 1.2% drop in earnings

Service revenue fell 3.8 per cent to €197 million at Vodafone Ireland in the fourth quarter as its parent reported a 1.2 per cent drop in full-year adjusted earnings.

Vodafone Ireland attributed the decline in revenues to reduced roaming and visitor revenues due to the Covid crisis, as well as the impact of regulatory changes and increased competition in the market.

Although its mobile customer base was largely unchanged, the number of fixed broadband subscribers it has increased 5.2 per cent year-on-year to over 299,000.

Vodafone said in the year to March its 5G rollout covered 30 per cent of the population. It intends to double this by early 2022.

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“The global pandemic has in many ways accelerated our move to becoming a digital society. Despite the current challenges, we continue to put a sustained focus on providing reliable connectivity at a critical time for the economy and society. We also continue to build our digital infrastructure and invest in network innovation for the benefit for our consumers and business customers,” said Vodafone Ireland chief executive Anne O’Leary.

Her comments come out as the Vodafone group posted adjusted earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of €14.4 billion on revenue of €43.8 billion, down 2.6 per cent, for the year.

Chief executive Nick Read said Vodafone exited the year with accelerating service revenue growth across its business, with a particularly good performance in its largest market, Germany.

“The increased demand for our services supports our ambition to grow revenues and cash flow over the medium-term,” he said.

The company said it expected ebidta for the current year to rise to between €15 million and €15.4 billion, with adjusted free cash flow of at least €5.2 billion.

Additional reporting: Reuters