Vodafone suffers from eurozone crisis as "emerging markets" boom

Feb 9, 2012, 13:07 GMT

London - British mobile phone operator Vodafone has been hit by the eurozone debt crisis as sales in emerging markets grew rapidly, figures published Thursday showed.

Group revenue in the third quarter of the 2011 financial year - up to the end of December - fell by 2.3 per cent to 11.6 billion pounds (18.4 billion dollars).

Market conditions in southern Europe remained difficult, reflected by a drop in service revenue in Italy and Spain, the world's biggest telecommunications company by revenue said in a statement.

Meanwhile, revenues in India and Turkey rose sharply, by 20 per cent and 23 per cent respectively, in the quarter. Sales were also up in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.

'Despite the further deterioration of the southern European economic environment during the quarter, our broad geographic mix is delivering a resilient overall performance,' Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said.

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