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

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (2995)	10/9/2000 9:18:46 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Daily Telegraph Windows of opportunity for mobile licence kings WHAT next for Vodafone? The company has emerged as the winner of Europe's great telecoms war, with far less debt than its exhausted rivals. Yet the shares are still laden with a dose of the gloom which has infected the sector, caused largely by the high cost of next-generation mobile licences. However, the future could be brighter, notably when the shares are at below 250p; yesterday they closed down 10 at 243p. That compares with a high of 399p earlier in the year. At the moment, Vodafone has a window of opportunity in which it can continue its global expansion, because its competitors are weakened. Its debt will fall to less than £10 billion - under £8 billion if the sale of Italian fixed-line business Infostrada goes through - by its year end in March. The focus is on deals in emerging markets, where land-line networks are modest and mobiles are taking off. Paying £1.7 billion for a 2pc stake in China Mobile last week was a start, if a risky one. The company's second opportunity is data. The licences have been expensive, but mobile data services are going to drive revenue growth and profitablity. Vodafone expects that up to a quarter of customer revenues will, in 2004, come from data. In markets where data services are advanced, such as Finland, revenues per customer are rising 7pc year on year. Data also uses the network more efficiently, and is expected to drive up overall margins from 30pc to 38pc in four years. Heavy - £10 billion - goodwill writedowns from the company's string of major acquisitions will seriously depress 2001 pre-tax profits. But behind the headline figure expect long-run profit growth of between 20pc and 30pc. This could be a buying opportunity.