Vodafone 1999 Annual Report Download - page 8

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UK Operations
In order to maintain the highest quality of service and to keep pace with the enormous customer
growth the company’s capital expenditure increased by 28% to £343 million. 1,364 new base
stations were added to the Vodafone network, which at the year end had 5,084 in operation.
Quality of service measurements, endorsed by the British Approvals Board for
Telecommunications, confirmed that the Vodafone network provides a call success rate in
declared coverage areas of greater than 95%.
Future Developments
On 6 May 1999, the UK Government announced that it proposed to auction five third generation
mobile telephone licences. The auction is now expected to take place in the second half of the
1999/2000 financial year and Vodafone intends to bid for one of the licences.
Third generation technology will offer users increased bandwidth connections to their mobile
handsets, allowing them to access an extensive range of new services. These will include video
telephony, high-speed access to corporate intranets and the internet and the provision of
electronic mail services which allow the user to access and control a range of messaging
options, including e-mail and voice mail.
During the last year Vodafone announced several collaborations with suppliers to develop third
generation wireless technology that will enable the transmission of multimedia communications using hand-held devices.
Vodafone is currently conducting trials with several partners and on different manufacturers’ equipment to assess a
number of technical issues and evaluate the performance of the new technology. These trials will keep Vodafone at the
forefront of third generation mobile communications technology as the world enters the wireless information age.
BACK TO TOP
Value Added and Data Services
Vodafone Value Added and Data Services is a leader in the field of wireless data and providing solutions to
customer requirements, using both current and newly emerging technologies. The company also provides value
added voice services, including the highly successful Recall voicemail service, which now has over 4,000,000
users.
The Vodafone Short Message Service has shown excellent growth in usage, with approximately 15
million messages being billed in March 1999 – a six-fold increase on the same period last year. During
May 1999, messaging to the other UK networks was opened, resulting in a further increase in traffic.
As of June 1999, over 750,000 messages per day were being billed. Unlike services offered by other
UK operators, the Vodafone Short Message Service is available on all tariffs and the pre-paid PAYT
service alone now accounts for over 50% of messages, as many of its users are young people who make greater use of
text messages to communicate.
http://www.vodafone.com/download/investor/reports/annual99/UK_Operations.htm (2 of 4)30/03/2007 00:07:33