Vodafone Australia key man goes

VODAFONE Australia is playing down the departure of finance chief Mark Steinberg after a year in the job on the grounds that he differed in "style of leadership' with chief executive Grahame Maher.

Steinberg and Maher attempted to gloss over their disagreements in a joint email to staff. After describing working for the company as 'awesome and amazing', the pair wrote: 'We do not agree on the style of leadership that is required for this role. The style of leadership I'm looking for in the CFO role and the style that Mark prefers to work from are different.

'We've therefore agreed that the best outcome for Mark, Vodafone and myself would be for Mark to look at other opportunities and for us to look for another person to fill this role.î

Steinberg worked with Vodafone Japan before joining the Australian operation and he and Maher worked together in New Zealand where Maher, the former marketing supremo of Vodafone Australia, made the operation profitable.

Maher's style, which includes a taste for publicity stunts, has got him into trouble in the past. He had to apologise two years ago for encouraging two streakers wearing only Vodafone logos to run on to the field during a rugby clash between New Zealand and Australia that was sponsored by Telstra.

Despite lifting its subscriber base by 6% in the third quarter through a giveaway of 680,000 SIM cards, Vodafone Australia is, in the words of stockbroker Goldman Sachs JB Were, facing 'serious revenue leakageî when mobile termination rates - the charges for connecting a landline to a mobile - are reduced next year.

Further revenue of tens of millions of dollars will be lost after today's announcement that Hutchison's 3 network has dumped Vodafone in favour of a new relationship with its partner Telstra. Goldman Sachs said the move was designed 'to make life as difficult as possible for Vodafoneî.

However, Maher said the two developments 'don't have any impact in any way, shape or formî.

Vodafone Australia's performance has been improving over the past year. While not breaking down the figures for Australia, the company last month reported non-Japan Asia-Pacific operating profit of £80m, up £25m from a year earlier.