Vodafone Launches U.K. Consumer Broadband, Fixed Telephony

LONDON--Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN) Wednesday launched consumer Internet broadband and fixed telephony services in the U.K., as the race hots up for telecommunications operators in the country to offer a full range of media services.

The Newbury, England-based company said it is investing "significantly" in the project, which includes a high-speed fiber-optic network, but declined to provide figures.

The service--called Vodafone Connect--will initially be offered to existing customers in Manchester, Berkshire and parts of Hampshire and Surrey followed by Essex, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire in the next few weeks. It will then be rolled out to the rest of the company's U.K. customer base later in the summer.

It expects to launch broadband to new customers later in the year.

"This launch builds on the success of Vodafone's fixed broadband services across 12 countries in Europe, where we are one of the largest providers with more than 11 million subscribers and our experience as the leader in unified communications to the U.K. business sector," Vodafone said.

"This is a really exciting move for Vodafone in the UK as we move our business into a new phase. We're looking forward to bringing our consumer customers the benefits of our experience in providing fixed and mobile services, both here in the UK and elsewhere around the world," said Jeroen Hoencamp, Chief Executive of Vodafone in the U.K..

In the U.K., rival Virgin Media, owned by Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA), already offers fixed telephony, mobile, broadband and pay-television. Fixed telephony giant BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) has also agreed to buy mobile operator EE, which would catapult the company back into consumer mobile for the first time in more than a decade.

At 0846 GMT, Vodafone shares were up 0.1% at 242 pence, valuing the company at GBP64.1 billion ($94.7 billion).

--Write to Simon Zekaria at [e-mail] 
 

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