Vodafone revealed today that a sharp rise in the amount of time customers spend talking on the mobile phone has offset the impact of regulatory price cuts and kept it on track to hit profit targets this year.

The mobile phone group said that enforced changes to roaming charges for overseas calls, and lower call handling rates, meant that its effective price per minute had dropped 20.3 per cent across Europe in the quarter to June 30.

However, revenue in the company’s most mature markets still rose by 1.1 per cent in the three months, the first quarter of the group’s financial year.

In the UK alone, Vodafone’s 17.6 million customers rang up 8.9 billion minutes on the phone, compared with 7.2 billion a year ago — a 23 per cent increase.

The group, whose new advertising campaign urges customers to ‘Make the Most of Now’, said: “A fall in effective price per minute has been offset by initiatives to stimulate additional usage.”

Coupled with continuing strong revenue growth of 18.7 per cent in Vodafone’s emerging markets in Eastern Europe and the sub-continent, the group said that it remained confident of hitting City expectations for the year.

It is forecast to make operating profits of up to £9.8 billion in 2007-08 with revenue of up to £34.1 billion.

Arun Sarin, the chief executive, said: “We have made a good start to the financial year ... and continue to make progress in the execution of our strategic objectives.

“We are reiterating our guidance for the coming year.”

Shares in the group rose 3.1p to 162.2p in early trading. The shares have climbed 21 per cent in four months.

Richard Hunter, the head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: "Last year's near-£30 billion goodwill write-off and negative noises towards the CEO have both become distant memories."

In the UK, Vodafone added 236,000 customers in the quarter to take the total to 17.6 million.

Revenue across the group’s global operations rose 7.5 per cent to £8.3 billion.

The net impact of acquisitions, including the $10.9 billion deal to take full control of Vodafone Essar in India, contributed 5.3 per cent to the revenue growth.

Vodafone showed India was already bringing in 1.5 million new customers a month. It now has 30.7 million in the country.

The group added that it now had 18.5 million 3G customers, double the amount a year ago.

Tempus: Upwardly mobile

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