LONDON - Vodafone Group vowed not to pay "over the top" in the battle for India's Hutchison Essar which reported forecast-beating subscriber growth and crossed the 200 million user milestone.
Chief executive Arun Sarin said yesterday final bids in the auction for a controlling stake inIndia's fourth-biggest mobile operator were still weeks away and that the probability of Vodafone's success remained "very hard to call".
"I certainly hope for all our collective sanities that it [the deal] is in February," Sarin told reporters.
The group, Europe's most valuable telecom company, is one of at least four bidders eyeing a 67 per cent stake put up for sale by parent Hong Kong's Hutchison International.
Vodafone has been accused by some investors of overpaying for acquisitions in the past, most recently in its US$4.55 billion ($6.68 billion) purchase of Turkey's Telsim in December 2005.
The world's biggest mobile operator outside of China beat forecasts for new customer sign-ups, with 8.7 million customers taking up its services in the fiscal third quarter to December 31, versus analysts' expectations of 7.5 million.
Subscriber growth in emerging markets is critical for Vodafone and its European rivals, which have reached full penetration of home markets and are facing declining prices due to competition and regulation.
Vodafone said mobile revenue rose 6.1 per cent in the key Christmas quarter, against the 6.2 per cent forecast. Almost all the revenue growth was in emerging markets, where sales, excluding acquisitions, rose 14.4 per cent.
In Europe, voice revenues fell 0.5 per cent despite 3.2 million new subscribers and a 17 per cent increase in voice telephony minutes.
But this decline was more than offset by strong growth in data such as email, video and messaging.
Overall service revenues increased 2.1 per cent in Europe, which was higher than the 1 per cent in the previous quarter.
Vodafone reiterated its full-year forecasts that mobile revenue growth would be within a range of 5 to 6.5 per cent and the mobile ebitda margin one percentage point lower.
