Vodafone cost reductions delivered a year early

Vodafonewill deliver savings from an efficiency programme a year in advance, the telecommunications company has announced.

Vodafone has been focussing on reducing costs since early 2008 and is trying to reduce the customisation levels of its IT to remove costs.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao saida £1 billion reduction in costs will be delivered a year ahead of planned and a further £1bn cost savings target has been set for 2012. Vodafone said it would achieve these savings by “leveraging on network, sourcing and infrastructure scale across a wider geographic area,” it also said staffing levels will be cut even further.

Reporting its half year result for the six months ending 30 September 2009 Vodafone said group revenue had increased by 9.3 per cent to £21.8bn, with European revenues increasing by three per cent. Vodafone, like many telecoms competitors, including Colt, are moving increasingly into the data market as voice revenue declines. Data revenue increased by 17.8 per cent in Europe, it said.

In May Vodafone won a £2 million contract with accountants Grant Thornton.

Expansion of its global network continued this year, adding Qatar to its reach. Adrian Dilworth, CIO of Vodafone Qatar kept launch costs in check by insisting customisation of its Oracle platform was kept to a minimum.