Vodafone Surpasses Two Million Customer Mark

Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 9:28 am
Press Release: Vodafone

25 January 2006

Vodafone Surpasses Two Million Customer Mark

Net customer additions 68,000*
Total customer numbers 2,024,000
Market share 54% at end of September 05
Voice minute usage on network 616 million
Average Revenue Per User**
Total 51.2
On Account 137.2
Prepay 25.9

**reported on a three-monthly rolling basis

Vodafone New Zealand surpassed the two million customer mark in the December 2005 quarter, heralding a significant milestone for its mobile customers.

Vodafone’s results for the quarter to 31 December 2005, released today, show that the company is continuing to grow customer numbers and build usage for services.

Director of Business Markets Phil Patel said the results are a reflection of the company’s focus on constantly introducing customers to the best of mobile.

“This year Vodafone celebrates seven years as New Zealand’s mobile market leader. Over that time we have invested $2 billion in New Zealand and driven the growth of the market, which is now sitting at 88.2% mobile penetration. It shows that Kiwis embrace mobile as their preferred way to communicate.

“We said last May that we’d reach the two million customer mark in 2005 and we’ve delivered on that promise. We added 68,000 customers* in the December 2005 quarter, which is two and a half times as many customers as we added in the previous quarter.”

Patel said that customers are talking more than ever on the Vodafone network, with a 10% rise in voice minutes over the last quarter.

“When combined with the fact that around 80% of our customers are Prepay users, who have enjoyed a 29% reduction in prices over the last year, this demonstrates we are delivering increasing value year-on-year to our customers.”

Given the high level of mobile penetration in New Zealand, Vodafone continues to focus on providing customers with cutting–edge mobile services to transform their business and leisure time.

“We’ve introduced a range of firsts to New Zealand with our 3G service, allowing our customers to experience the full suite of mobile applications, be that video calling, mobile TV or downloading music from the 400,000 titles on offer in the Vodafone live! MusicStore. Vodafone Mobile Connect is also available to our customers when they are in New Zealand as well as in 31 countries around the globe.”

Patel said Vodafone will continue to champion innovation and competition in the coming year. He warned however that 2006 would bring challenges in the regulatory space with Vodafone focusing on the Telecommunications Service Obligation and Mobile Termination Rates.

“We will work closely with the Minister and the Commerce Commission to ensure the best outcome for consumers. Regulation is not in the best interests of New Zealand or consumers in this case, nor will it achieve sustained price reductions to mobile customers,” he said.

The comparative figures…

In the quarter to:

31 December 2004 31 March
2005 30 June
2005 30 September 2005
Net customer additions*
74,000 60,000 38,000 27,000
Total customer numbers 1, 831,000 1,891,000 1,929,000 1,956,000
Market share 55.7% 55.4% 54.7% 54%
Voice minute usage on network 538 million 539 million 540 million 559 million
Average Revenue Per User
Total 53.0 52.5 50.7 51.0
On Account 146.5 143.4 138.9 139.7
Prepay 27.9 27.8 25.9 25.6

* NOTES
Vodafone’s net customer additions for the quarter excludes telemetry, machine to machine connections, other data devices and customer adjustments.

ENDS

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