19th Sep 2006 07:05
Vodafone Group Plc19 September 2006 19 September 2006 VODAFONE REPORTS 10 MILLION VODAFONE PASSPORT CUSTOMERS Vodafone Leading the Mobile Industry in Reducing the Cost of Retail and Wholesale Roaming in Europe Vodafone announces today that 10 million of its customers have signed up forVodafone Passport, Vodafone's roaming service which enables customers to taketheir domestic price plan abroad for a small connection fee per call. Thisrepresents more than a third of all roaming customers having taken up theservice since its launch in May 2005. More than 150,000 customers are joiningVodafone Passport every week. Vodafone Passport was developed to meet customer demands for better valueroaming with clear and simple pricing. Data for June and July 2006 shows thatPassport customers are paying around 50% less per minute for their voice roamingcalls when compared to the average cost of roaming in Summer 2005. The averagecost of a voice roaming call for these customers is now below €0.45 per minute. Overall cost of roaming down 20% Following Vodafone's May 2006 commitment to reduce the average cost of roamingby 40% by April 2007 when compared to Summer 2005, Vodafone confirms today thataverage roaming prices for all Vodafone roaming customers were already over 20%lower during June and July 2006 compared to Summer 2005. More than 50% of Vodafone's European wholesale traffic to be priced at €0.45 perminute or less Vodafone also confirms that it has agreement with other operators to reducewholesale prices to €0.45 per minute or less on a reciprocal basis and that theoperators with whom it has such agreement represent more than 50% of Vodafone'sEuropean wholesale traffic. This follows Vodafone's May 2006 commitment to offerreduced wholesale rates to enable better value roaming for all mobile customersacross Europe. Roaming Price Text Information Service To provide even better price transparency for customers when they travel abroad,Vodafone also announces today its intention to launch a roaming price textinformation service across its European markets before Summer 2007. The servicewill be modelled on Vodafone UK's existing service, which enables customers tosend a short text message to receive information about the cost of making a callor sending a text in the country they are visiting. Arun Sarin, Chief Executive, Vodafone, said: "Our customers want simplicity, predictability and value when they travelabroad. Vodafone is committed to delivering services which meet these needs.Today's figures clearly demonstrate our success and show that Vodafone continuesto lead the industry in roaming. I am delighted that more and more of ourcustomers are choosing Vodafone Passport." Ends For further information: Vodafone Group Investor RelationsTel: +44 (0) 1635 664447 Media RelationsTel: +44 (0) 1635 664444 Notes to Editors Vodafone's commitment to reducing roaming costs On 8 May 2006, Vodafone committed to reducing the cost of European roaming by: * Reducing the average retail cost of roaming to Vodafone customers by 40% by April 2007 when compared to Summer 2005. * Offering to enter into reciprocal wholesale agreements with any European operator at an average charge of no more than €0.45 per minute for voice calls within the EU from October 2006. Vodafone Passport * Launched in May 2005 and now available in 13 Vodafone markets * A free opt-in service, Vodafone Passport offers customers their home price plan abroad for a small connection fee per call eg a UK customer would be charged 75p per call and their domestic rate thereafter. * Vodafone Passport offers significant savings to standard roaming price plans. For example, a UK customer with an Anytime 200 price plan could call home from Italy and chat for four minutes, paying just 75p using their bundled minutes. Previously, this would have cost £3.00. Text Information Service - how it works A Vodafone UK customer visiting Spain who wanted to know how much it would costto phone the UK from Spain would text FROM SPAIN to 4636 and would be sent atext detailing how much it would cost to make and receive calls and send textswhilst in Spain. Vodafone intends for this service, ultimately, to be free tocustomers. About Vodafone Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile telecommunications groupwith equity interests in 27 countries across 5 continents with 186.8 millionproportionate customers worldwide as at 30 June 2006 as well as 33 partnernetworks. For further information, please visit www.vodafone.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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