130m on the line at Vodafone

MOBILE phones giant Vodafone pleased investors today with stronger than expected third-quarter subscriber numbers which took its customer base around the world to more than 130m

Over the key Christmas quarter Vodafone attracted 4.3m new subscribers drawn by camera phones, colour screens and its interactive service Live!

Recent takeovers of the Greek and Albanian offshoots added a further 800,000 customers, taking the quarter's total increase to 5.1m. Most analysts had been forecasting a net gain of between 3.5m and 4m.

Chief executive Arun Sarin said: 'These are great numbers, recording our strongest organic customer growth for three years. We continue to be delighted with the progress of Vodafone Live! which has proved a real point of difference during the last quarter in many of our markets.'

In the UK, average spending by each customer pushed up through the £300-a-year level in the 12 months to December. There are now just over 1m Live! subscribers in this country and a further 3.5m in the other 14 countries where it is available.

Investors were looking for reassurance from Sarin today that Vodafone will not get involved in the $30bn (£16.4bn) auction for AT&T Wireless, America's third-largest mobile network. It was only in November that the group launched a £2.5bn share buyback in response to shareholder demands for better cash returns.