Vodafone grabs bigger slice of mobile pie

By DANIEL RIORDAN

Mobile phone company Vodafone has continued its rapid growth, lifting customer numbers by 18 per cent over the December quarter to 753,000.

Competitor Telecom has yet to reveal its year-end figures, but it seems certain it will have continued to lose market share to its smaller rival.

Telecom had 1,031,000 mobile customers at September 30, a market share of 62 per cent. It will need to add 197,000 customers or 19 per cent growth over the December quarter to maintain that share.

That is unlikely, however - Telecom's growth over the March and September quarters was a modest 6.5 per cent and 5 per cent, compared to Vodafone's 19 per cent and 13 per cent off a lower base.

But however the pie is sliced, it is expected to grow. And if both companies maintain their quarterly growth rates, the number of New Zealanders owning mobiles will pass two million in the September quarter.

Vodafone managing director Grahame Maher said the New Zealand market still had plenty of growth left. At the end of September, 43 per cent of the population owned mobiles, compared with leading international markets such as Finland and Italy which had rates of 60 per cent.

New technology was allowing mobiles to connect to non-human end users, such as security alarms and cars, encouraging nearly everyone to have mobile connection.

When Vodafone bought BellSouth nearly two years ago, it inherited about 115,000 customers, acquired over six years. As many new customers were added in the last quarter, said Mr Maher.

The December quarter is typically the best for mobile sales, as people buy phones for Christmas gifts. More than a million text messages were sent over the Vodafone network on Christmas Day.

Telecom will release its year-end mobile numbers in mid-February when it reports its December quarter financial results.