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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD)

VOD 14.92

+1.9%

3:59 PM EST

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To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (2814)	5/30/2000 8:00:00 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) of 3175

Vodafone Rings Up Better-Than-Expected Profits Vodafone - which has just announced it's flogging off Orange to France Telecom for around œ28 billion - has reported a better-than-expected rise in underlying pre-tax profits to œ2.47 billion. This compares with œ1.8 billion last time. Meanwhile, the firm's customer database has risen from 25.4 million to 39.1 million. The latest figures don't include Mannesmann, the German telco taken over in April for almost œ100 billion. And clearly they don't reflect the just announced Orange sale. Speaking on BBC radio, Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) CEO, Chris Gent, reported huge growth in text messaging business and said eventually the number of mobiles in use will exceed fixed phones. Much of the improved numbers have been generated by the firm's purchase last year of US outfit, Air Touch. But even in the UK more than 3 million customers have signed up over the last 12 months, bringing the subscriber base up to 8.8 million. The œ28 billion raised by Vodafone will come in useful in terms of helping pay down some of its existing debt. This includes the cost of the recent auction for third generation phone licenses in the UK. As far as that was concerned it got what it wanted. But the cost of establishing the necessary infrastructure will prove high. And there's no guarantee the customer take-up will be as heavy as expected. Meanwhile, having been forced by competition authorities to divest itself of Orange it has, in the process, created its biggest competitor in the European mobile phones market. The colourful Hans Snook, who heads up Orange, will be keen to take on Vodafone as the European market is progressively carved-up.

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