Vodafone suffered in all its major European markets as new EU rules and tough competition took their toll at the world’s second-largest mobile phones company.
Officials in Europe have been cutting fees for roaming and recently reduced the maximum amount companies can charge for overseas internet usage and making calls.
The company also revealed it had been hit hardest in Spain where organic revenues, which exclude handsets sales and currency changes, were down 15.3% in the three months to the end of June compared with a fall of 12.6% in the previous quarter.
Bosses blamed Spain’s economy and consumers’ fondness for cheaper SIM-only deals and buying mid-range phones instead of expensive ones. Elsewhere, India offset Vodafone’s European woes, with revenues up 10.3% as customers gobble up more 3G data than ever before.
In Europe, high data usage also continued to grow, with the company’s 4G network covering 52% of the continent, up from 46% in the first three months of 2014, as bosses start a £19 billion investment to roll out more services. It means data usage has risen by 53% year on year, as customers start streaming more music and videos on their phones.
The UK saw revenues fall 3.2%. However, the company said its consumer mobiles business returned to growth in the quarter.
Chief executive Vittorio Colao said: “The year has started in line with our expectations. Through our commercial actions and investment, our performance is beginning to stabilise quarter-on-quarter in several of our European markets.”
