Mobile phone giant Vodafone has reported a return to growth in UK revenues as it offers more signs of recovery in its battered European markets.
Growing demand for 4G services and the benefits of its £19 billion Project Spring investment plan meant UK revenues were up 0.9 per cent in the three months to December 31, against a three per cent fall in the previous quarter.
Its home market was the only one of its major European markets to show growth, although the Newbury-based company said there were signs of a "steady recovery" with the region's service revenues down by 2.7 per cent.
Vodafone is to offer broadband services to UK households from this spring in a move set to counter the growth of BT and other rivals.
The ''quadplay'' offer of services, which also includes existing home phone and mobile, will take advantage of the infrastructure acquired by Vodafone when it took over Cable & Wireless Worldwide in 2012.
The move into UK broadband comes amid expectations that BT will launch a fierce price war following today's acquisition of mobile phone giant EE.
Vodafone is already one of the largest broadband providers in Europe after taking its customer base to around 11.2 million at the end of September, including 1.6 million customers from the acquisition of Ono in Spain in July.
Its Project Spring plan aims to accelerate improvements to its network, resulting in wider 4G coverage in Europe and 3G coverage in emerging markets.
It said 4G coverage in Europe was now 65 per cent, with dropped call rates down to 0.64 per cent and 26 million homes now able to access its next generation networks.
Chief executive Vittorio Colao said: "Our customers are really beginning to notice the difference in experience that this investment delivers.
"We are confident that, over time, this will translate into further improvements in customer perception, average revenues per user and churn."
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