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back to article Vodafone loses €6bn mainly due to Indian biz writeoff

Vodafone has reported a substantial loss of €6.1bn (£5.2bn) during its full-year results 2016/17, mainly due to a writedown of its Indian business. The firm also posted disappointing figures for the UK. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were down 16 per cent to €1.2bn (£1bn) on revenues, down 3.3 per …

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  1. djstardust

    What a shame

    Lack of investment anywhere outside London, terrible CS, GPRS standard outside the City centre and they wonder why they're losing customers.

    They are also very expensive. Three are significantly cheaper with not that worse a service.

    For years they have put profits before punters and now it's coming back to bite them in the arse.

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What a shame

      Reaping what they've sown...

      2 0 Reply
    2. Nick, Yeah?
      Reply Icon

      Re: What a shame

      I have been a Vodafone SME customer with up to 10 lines at one point, for over a decade. I'm currently in the process of transferring to EE over the next two years, line-by-line.

      I was assigned an account manager a year ago and things have gone down-hill quickly. I'm amazed how argumentative and condescending CS are allowed to be on rather simple issues. I say allowed to be because there appears (in my experience) to be a clique of CS agents of all levels in the SME team (AKA team 'SE25').

      Its partly my fault, of course, for staying the course and not looking at other options available in the market. So far, EE have shown excellent customer service (almost like you're paying them for a service) and have proven to be quite significantly cheaper, too.

      Not to mention consistent WiFi Calling, VoLTE, consistently better and faster 4G nationwide coverage in my experience.

      2 0 Reply
    3. Andrew Moore
      Reply Icon

      Re: What a shame

      It was their shitty customer service that made my company jump ship. Something I enjoyed explaining to the Vodafone sales droid who rang me to ask why we had switched.

      0 0 Reply
  2. Rainman

    Monetise my customer data and watch another customer walk off to another network.

    6 0 Reply

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. paulf
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Not to mention their latest iOS app that demands location data otherwise it doesn't work. All to check network quality and offer the best customer experience natch (and not at all to monetise your location for ads).

      I like their network, which has had tangible improvements in the last year or so in the places I go (no, not London, YMMV etc) but this whole monetising data stuff is, frankly disturbing. Unfortunately the banks are also getting into it; optionally for now, but the incentive to join early will soon become a surcharge for not participating as time goes on (remember getting a discount for paying by Direct Debit?). It's one thing when you buy a toaster from amazon and they then want to sell you five more different ones but when your phone provider(s) and bank want to sell their much more intimate+detailed information about you to the highest paying marketing droid scumbag. Then when we're all forced onto those useless fucking smart meters the utilities will also be able to join the information selling party ("anonymised", of course!).

      For now I'm reluctant to leave Vodascum as when I last renewed my SIM only deal I was given an unexpected half price discount for 27 months so it's time to investigate a VPN I think :(

      0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    some bozo

    I feel for them a bit as they were a vast Mclaren F1 sponsoring beast once. But who knew phone calling was so old hat compared to what people require from a phone nowadays.

    Seem to be making efforts to skip to the fore and I like their own branded phones like

    the smart ultra 6 which does everything some bozo's £500 iphone does for a 5th of the price.

    0 0 Reply
  4. PaulR79

    Well deserved performance

    I have only bad memories of Vodafone. The high prices and the condescending store staff who wouldn't even look up from what they were doing when talking to me are just two of my own experiences with them.

    8 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I always thought BT were the panacea of never-to-be-beaten god-awful customer service.

    That was until Vodafone started behaving like Lewis Hamilton on a good day starting from a back of the grid. These days BT and Vodafone are neck and neck in customer service, but I suspect I will not be long until Vodafone surpass the lethargic BT !

    I've been subjected to everything you can imagine by Vodafone .... mis-sold contracts, non-delivery, excess charges... the works, you name it, Vodafone have probably done it to me !

    I want to move my company's accounts, I really, really do. But the trouble is I'm stuck for two reasons, First is that other providers coverage simply sucks in comparison (even in very central parts of Central London !) , and second is that although Vodafone screw you on roaming, they tend to screw you less than some of the others.

    I'm constantly reviewing Vodafone, and as soon as an an opportunity arises, I shall be duly telling them where to stick it.

    5 1 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Dario Talmesio, principal analyst at Ovum, said that the UK was a "black sheep" for Vodafone partly because it has no fixed line "

    Vodafone does have a fixed-line offering. He's right about the no TV offering, though.

    0 0 Reply
  7. Rusty 1
    Unhappy

    Most unfortunate

    I suppose they'll not have to pay much tax then, after losing out so badly to unforeseen events.

    The finance department must be absolutely gutted. Truly and utterly gutted.

    Life's a bitch, isn't it?

    0 1 Reply
  8. lsces

    How much longer ...

    Having had a mobile number with Vodafone since the days of the grey brick I've reached the point where I'm down to sim only and am trying to decide who to switch to and coming up with a blank! Competition in the UK is non-existent as nobody can actually provide a reliable service to large areas of the UK like the Cotswolds. I got more reliable coverage from the analogue phones we used to have access to!

    0 0 Reply
  9. Commswonk

    More management bollocks

    Vittorio Colao, group chief exec, said... there was good potential in the UK to "improve margins" and intends to "play more aggressively" in the data space, as it intends to roll out plans to monetise customer data.

    No mention of improving the overall service to customers; achieve that and the margin will follow.

    3 0 Reply
  10. sitta_europea Silver badge

    [QUOTE]

    Vodafone said the issues were due to errors "during a complex IT migration"

    [/QUOTE]

    What a load of bollocks.

    Vodafone's issues are entirely home grown, as a quick perusal of the comments here will show anyone who cares to read them. Not that that's likely to include anyone at Vodafone.

    Years ago, when I didn't pay them for services not provided, Vodafone actually threatened to sue me.

    I said "See you in Court".

    Never happened. When they go bust I'll dance a jig.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Well deserved

      Lost my faith in Vodacon (when they ruled the 2g roost 7 were the talk of the town) and I wanted to migrate to orange ! Their call centre was an 0870 premium cost number (costing about 20 pence per minute). They gave me the long run around in a very arrogant way and the call cost me more than what I was fighting for a wrongful one months extra charge they levied on my migration. Never looked at them again (including family members)

      Greedy bastards. Hope they go under soonest.

      1 0 Reply
  11. Gio Ciampa

    City Restaurants will be busy...

    ...time to be wining and dining HMRC again...?

    0 1 Reply

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