Vodafone has topped up its investment plans by another £1 billion as it reaps the benefit from one of the biggest corporate deals in history.
The mobile phone giant previously pledged to spend £6bn under Project Spring, with initiatives including the roll-out of its 4G network to ensure 90% coverage in its five main European markets by 2017.
But with the £84bn sale of its share of Verizon Wireless under its belt, the company said investment would reach £7bn by March 2016, as it looked to build a stronger network for customers.
Shareholders have already been told that the company will return £54bn to them as a result of the Verizon deal in the United States.
The investment update came as the company highlighted the impact of difficult trading conditions in Europe, with its service revenues down by 4.9% on an underlying basis in the six months to September 30.
It has been squeezed by increasing price competition in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, where service revenues decreased by 4.4%.
Adjusted operating profits for the group were 8.3% down at £5.7bn but Vodafone said it remained on track to meet its full-year forecasts.
Chief executive Vittorio Colao described trading conditions in Europe as "very tough" but said he was encouraged by signs of economic recovery and potential regulatory support for greater industry investment and consolidation.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: "The immediate picture is cloudy, but Vodafone remains a longer term play."
He said the company was positioning itself for the eventual European economic recovery, through the recent purchase of Kabel Deutschland, and continued to benefit from increasing penetration and data usage within emerging markets.
And Vodafone's increased investment in network and infrastructure spend should reap longer term rewards, while also stepping up the pressure on rivals, he added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article