[Ben]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/19/vodanumbers/


Vodafone stuck to its outlook guns this morning when it released a trading statement that showed data revenue growth far outstripping the increase in dreary old voice.
Quite astonishing when you think that they only just slashed their data charges for 3G Broadband! Hopefully the new price will see a continued explosion in growth. It really is great value for money now given Vodafone's excellent network performance (in my experience).

[Hands0n]

....... and this proves out my Wal*Mart point that I have banged on about for simply ages. Bring down the cost of data and more people will use it - stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap. Now lets see more of this Mr Vodafone, it is a sound marketing principle that the mobile ops have all but ignored since the beginning of time. And lets see it for International Roaming too!

These ex-PTTs are way too conservative for their own and the buying public's good! They need a good marketeer running them, not these bunch of dinosaur flossers with old school ties.

[3GScottishUser]

With over 18.5 million 3G users across their operations it looks like Vodafone are now leading in terms of worldwide number of users on UMTS.

The migration of GSM customers appears to be happening now quite rapidly. The big question is whether these newly empowerd high technology customers will actually spend more on the enhanced services 3G offers.

With Vodafone's ARPU slipping in the UK the massive investment in 3G has not shown any sign of being a 'golden goose'... well not yet anyway!!

[whatleydude]

Oh DO me a favour!

"While data brought in £452m, this represented a 35.3 per cent jump on the previous year. On an organic basis, data was up 32.2 per cent..."

What? At £2.35 per meg I'm not bloody surprised!

We'll see if this 'revenue growth' carries throughout the year now that the flat rate charges have been brought in...

*sigh*

[Ben]

It almost looks as if Vodafone's strategy was to price data highly while usage was low, milking the 'early adopters' and helping finance the expansion of high speed data services, and then reduce the costs once a critical mass was building up to carry data uptake forwards.

They may well have timed it so that accellerated uptake negates the impact of a lower cost/MB. Time will tell!

[whatleydude]

Lucky ol' us..

[Hands0n]

Meanwhile, back in the pink corner, T-Mobile got all bold and developed a very attractive and affordable 3G Data tariff for its Customers - who are generally very happy with them for doing this.

But I wonder if Vodafone's figures are more a reflection of the wider selection of 3G devices being sold by them rather than the general public actually asking specifically for 3G handsets.

Anyone who wants data is unlikely to ask specifically for a 2G/2.5G device - I'd imagine that the individual is somewhat savvy about what they want. Data is not yet at the point where the average Joe is buying it and unaware of the technology at hand. No, the Data customer is going to ask for specifics like the current range of 3G data cards and USB dongles.

I do think that as and when, rather than if, Vodafone enhance the data proposition they will steal a lot of the marketplace. They have a good reputation for the quality and coverage of their network. People are only staying away from their data in droves because it is still very poor value.