The National Consumer Council (NCC) has criticised Vodafone for increasing mobile phonecall costs without telling its customers.

Vodafone plans to raise minimum call charges by 25%.

But a letter inserted into July’s bills stated the new price list but failed to mention they were going up.

Vodafone has said it has improved its call packages for contract customers and it expects “99% of users will see less than a 10% rise in their bills”.

It says it needs to raise prices to cover the cost of connecting to non-geographic numbers such as 0845 and 0800, and because the European Commission has made firms cut the cost of calls made from overseas.

Headline tariffs

Vodafone is not changing its headline tariff rates and the increased charges, effective from 1 September, apply to both contract and pay-as-you-go customers.

Minimum call charges are rising by 25% and calls to 08 numbers, including 0800 and 0845, will be rising by more than 30%.

Vodafone said it let customers know that changes were afoot through texts and their bills.

The company says its new improved price plans, with extra texts and minutes for contract customers, will help absorb some of the increase.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said: “This is the first time in over two years we have done this and 02 and T-Mobile have already done it earlier this year.

“If people are significantly impacted, we will work with them to find the right price plan.”

Roaming limits

The NCC has called on mobile phone providers to make sure they are absolutely clear on prices.

Last year, the Commission set limits on roaming charges for mobile phonecalls across the European Union.

At the time, mobile phone companies warned that prices of other calls may go up.

In June, the Commission unveiled plans to lower the cost of mobile phone calls by reducing the fees operators charge each other for using their networks.

The Commission said it was these charges that were, in part, to blame for mobile calls being more expensive than fixed-line calls in the EU.

News reported by The BBC

Ghanaian parliament has approved Vodafone’s takeover of state-owned Ghana Telecom (GT).

The $900m deal – which gives UK-based Vodafone a 70% stake in the firm – has been attacked by opposition MPs for grossly undervaluing GT.

But communications minister Benjamin Aggrey-Ntim said it would enable Ghana to become a vibrant and competitive player in the telecoms market.

GT is Ghana’s third largest mobile phone firm with 1.4 million customers.

As well as mobile interests, Ghana Telecom has a monopoly over fixed-line services and employs 4,000 staff.

However, the company is unprofitable and has debts of $400m.

Looking ahead, Vodafone said it plans to boost Ghana Telecom’s share of the mobile market to 25% from its current 17% and invest $500m to expand network coverage.

There are 2.7 million mobile subscribers in Ghana, although overall mobile penetration per head of the population in the west African country remains low at 35%.

Rapid uptake in mobile use on the continent has attracted foreign firms.

Vodafone already owns half of Vodacom, the leading mobile business in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

News reported by The BBC

Vodafone shocked the City yesterday by becoming the the first telecoms company to warn that revenues would suffer from the deteriorating economic conditions, increasing fears of recession in the UK.

The market reacted badly to Arun Sarin’s last quarterly results as Vodafone chief executive, sending the telecoms’ group shares plunging 16 per cent at one point. The world’s largest mobile phone group hinted at a “recessionary impact” in the UK and a slowdown on the Continent, dragging on its full-year returns in a sector that had been considered “immune” to the credit crunch.

Mr Sarin said yesterday: “We are beginning to see an impact from the current economic environment which is greater than we expected.”

Dean Reynolds, an analyst at Execution, said yesterday’s announcement was the “first time we have seen a telecoms company” acknowledging the weakening economic situation.

The group revealed its revenues for the year would be at the bottom of its previous predictions – at about £39.8bn – which reflected its “first-quarter performance, recent economic weakness and lower than expected equipment revenue”.

While the UK slowed, Vodafone’s business in Spain was worst hit “by economic and competitive effects” as consumer spending fell and the credit crunch bit. In particular, Mr Sarin said, Vodafone had been hit by a fall in the number of ecnomic migrants working in Spain, in particular in its construction industry, and to a lesser extent in the UK and Ireland.

Simon Weeden at Goldman Sachs said: “We expect the market to take a fairly dim view of the miss to revenue and revision of guidance, evidence of economic sensitivity in Spain and reference to early signs of ‘recessionary impact’ in the UK.”

The market duly complied and the shares, which have performed relatively well compared with the FTSE All Share index in the past month, closed 13.6 per cent lower at 129p.

Mark James, at Collins Stewart, said: “Vodafone is probably the first telecoms group in the world to say it is not immune to the wider market decline. It has slowed in Spain and the UK, and failed to grow as hoped elsewhere in Europe. This is clearly an issue for telecoms groups in the developed markets.” Shares in rivals including Telefonica and Ericsson fell on the back of the news.

“Up until Tuesday, telecoms companies have been relatively immune from the economic slowdown, and as a result investors have been camped out in the sector,” Mr James said. He added that what had traditionally been seen as a defensive investment “has now experienced a sentiment shift”. Vodafone’s statement yesterday kicked off the telecoms sector reporting season in Europe, with TeliaSonera and Belgacom due to report later this week.

The group’s first-quarter results showed that revenues had risen 19.1 per cent to £9.8bn, driven by returns in its data business and strong growth in India, but were still lower than analysts had predicted. Goldman added that the announcement brought “to an abrupt end the growth story that was Vodafone Spain…. As guidance was set at the end of May, trading may, in our view, have deteriorated in Spain only late in the quarter”.

Exactly a week before he is to step down, Arun Sarin remained upbeat. He said that despite the challenging environment, the group had benefited from the diversity of its operations. “While we expect revenue around the bottom of the outlook range, our continued focus on cost reduction enables us to reiterate our operating profit and cash flow guidance for the year,” he added.

Mr Sarin announced his decision to leave the group, after five years, in May. His position will be taken by Vittorio Colao, his deputy. Mr Sarin pioneered Vodafone’s drive into the emerging markets, culminating in the $11bn (£5.5bn) takeover of the Indian group Hutchison Essar last year.

Mr James of Collins Stewart remains unconvinced that the strategy will remain viable in the short term. “Today’s emerging markets are tomorrow’s developed markets – the prospects for a slowdown in the medium term are there,” he said.

>News reported by The Independent

Vodafone has said it will buy £1bn of its own shares after a disappointing trading update prompted a sharp fall in its stock price on Tuesday.

Its shares fell 14% to 129 pence on Tuesday after it warned revenue would be hit by an economic downturn. They rose 2.5% to 132.2 on Wednesday’s news.

The stock buyback plan is subject to approval from shareholders.

Vodafone said the buyback “reflects the board’s belief that the share price significantly undervalues” the firm.

On Tuesday, Vodafone’s chief executive Arun Sarin, due to step down later this month, said the company faced a more “challenging operating environment”.

Vodafone said that revenue in the year to 31 March 2009 would be at the bottom of the predicted £39.8bn to £40.7bn range.

However, Vodafone added that cost cutting would mean that its profits for the current financial year were still set to meet its original forecasts.

The company still expects to make operating profit of £11bn to £11.5bn, with emerging markets forecast to perform strongly.

However, the firm is experiencing problems in Europe, particularly in Spain, where its business faces falling revenue and slowing customer growth.

Mr Sarin will be replaced by his deputy Vittorio Colao.

News reported by The BBC