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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1983)	10/4/1999 11:32:00 PM
From: Jules Shear	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3175

US subscriber numbers seemed a little disappointing compared with previous quarters...hope they can "get their eye back on the ball" of executing on the business plan now that the suspense around Bell Atlantic partnership has been resolved. Although VOD is clearly an international "story" (despite the many overly US-centric investors here), it still is amazing that US generated only 7% of customer additions (186K/2.6M). How about that European growth (especially UK)! US operations added 186,000 customers although it covers almost 100 million people while UK added over 700,000 customers although is covers about 60 million people. Maybe comparing apples and oranges-but the point is the same. VODAFONE AIRTOUCH EXCEEDS 31 MILLION CUSTOMERS 4-Oct-1999 99/105 Vodafone AirTouch Plc today announces connection figures which show that more than 2,636,000 new customers joined Vodafone AirTouch networks around the world during the July to September 1999 calendar quarter. At the end of September, excluding paging customers, Vodafone AirTouch had a world-wide customer base of over 31.4 million customers from operations in 23 countries. In the UK during the quarter, Vodafone connected over 701,000 new customers, a record for the third calendar quarter, and more than double the same quarter of 1998. This figure included over 689,000 who joined the Vodafone Pay as You Talk service. At the end of September, the UK customer base was over 6,864,000, including more than 3,190,000 on the Pay as You Talk service. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa region of Vodafone AirTouch grew by more than 1,407,000 new customers during the quarter, and at the end of September had a customer base of over 12,057,000. These figures include the addition of some 341,000 customers in total and 40,000 for the quarter as a result of the 3.8% stake increase in Omnitel Pronto Italia, but exclude the Vodafone AirTouch interest in the E-Plus network in Germany. The USA/Asia Pacific region ended September with a cellular customer base of more than 12,559,000. This figure includes the addition of 988,000 customers which reflects the current ownership in Japan. More than 186,000 new customers were added to the US customer base, while Asia Pacific recorded approximately 340,000 new additions during the quarter. Of these 61,000 were accounted for by the ownership changes in Japan. Commenting, Chris Gent, Chief Executive of Vodafone AirTouch Plc, said: "The demand for mobile communication services around the world continues to be strong. In most of our markets we are seeing accelerated growth and increases in market penetration rates to levels which have surpassed our expectations. Of particular significance is the performance of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region which now accounts for nearly 40% of all of our customers. It has become our fastest growing region and emphasises the importance of our global strategy." For further information contact: Tim Brown, Investor Relations Director, or Melissa Stimpson, Senior Investor Relations Manager, or Mike Caldwell, Director of Corporate Communications at Vodafone AirTouch Plc Telephone +44 (0)1635 33251