*Vodafone AirTouch Connections Soar Around the World
Wednesday July 7, 8:47 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1999--Vodafone AirTouch Plc, the world's largest mobile telecommunications
company, today released connection figures for the period from April to June 1999 which showed strong growth in customer
connections in all regions of the world.
During the calendar quarter over 2.303 million net new proportionate mobile phone customers joined Vodafone AirTouch
networks. The Vodafone AirTouch proportionate customer base at the end of June 1999 stood at almost 28 million users,
excluding paging customers. The company, formed last week following a merger between Vodafone Group Plc and AirTouch
Communications, Inc., has interests in mobile telephone networks in 23 countries on four continents. It operates through three
divisions: the UK; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and USA/Asia Pacific.
In the UK, the total number of customers connected at the end of June was over 6,162,000. Vodafone added more than
587,000 net new customers in the quarter, an increase of over 2.5 times the 206,000 achieved in the equivalent quarter of
1998 and over ten times the comparable period of 1997. The Pay As You Talk (PAYT) service grew by more than 654,000
in the quarter taking the total PAYT base from over 1,846,000 to more than 2,501,000. The contract customer base declined
in the period by 67,000 due to a series of large scale disconnections by two service providers.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa division, which consists of operations in fifteen countries, the total customer base at the
end of June 1999 was over 10.34 million. During the quarter over 1,179,000 new customers were connected. These figures
exclude the Vodafone AirTouch interest in the E-Plus network in Germany which is due to be sold following the merger.
In the USA/Asia Pacific region, which has operations in seven countries, the customer base grew by more than 537,000 during
the quarter, resulting in a total mobile phone customer base of almost 11.1 million. The Vodafone AirTouch customer base in
the USA at the end of June stood at over 8.95 million, having added over 285,000 customers during the quarter. This increase
was despite intense competition in all its major markets many of which have four or more competitors. Digital connections
continued to be strong.
Commenting, Chris Gent, Chief Executive of Vodafone AirTouch said: ''The unprecedented growth in mobile telephony that
we have seen around the world this year has continued throughout the last quarter in all our major markets. Especially
encouraging is an increasing trend of usage amongst pre-paid users, particularly in the UK. The global scale of Vodafone
AirTouch gives us access to a wide range of diverse markets around the world, and has now given us almost as many
customers outside the original two 'home' markets of the USA and the UK as we have within them. This gives us huge scale
and development potential with risk diversity. The growth of the wireless market is truly a world-wide phenomena.''
Notes to Editors:
(1) The Europe, Middle East, Africa region covers the Vodafone AirTouch interests in the following countries: Belgium,
Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain,
Sweden, and Uganda
(2) The US/Asia Pacific region covers the Vodafone AirTouch interests in the following countries: Australia, Fiji, India,
Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the USA.
Contact:
Vodafone AirTouch
Terry Barwick, Director of Corporate Affairs,
Tim Brown, Investor Relations Director,
+44 1635 33251
Tavistock Communications
Lulu Bridges / Peter Willetts,
Telephone +44 171 600 2288
More Quotes and News:
Vodafone Airtouch PLC (NYSE:VOD - news)
Related News Categories: telecom
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