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 afurther 800,000 customers, taking the quarter's total increase to 5.1m. Most analysts had forecast 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 Britain, the average spending by each customer pushed up through the £300-a-year in the 12 months to December. There are now just over 1m lion Live! subscribers in this country and another 3.5m in the other 14 countries where it is available.

Sarin refused to rule out Vodafone becoming involved in the $30bn (£16.4bn) auction for AT&T Wireless, America's third-largest mobile network.

'We are watching what is going on and will do what is in the best interests of our shareholders,' he said.