Vodafone fears Japan sales fall

Simon Fluendy|Mail13 April 2012

VODAFONE is braced for further bad news from its troubled Japanese operation this week when the country's Ministry of Communications releases subscriber numbers for mobile phone operators.

The company lost subscribers with its established operations in February while it signed up new customers to its high-tech third-generation network at a far slower rate than competitors such as NTT DoCoMo.

The Japanese figures are expected to show this trend continuing with a further fall in sales. Boss Arun Sarin has sent executive Bill Morrow back to head the business in Japan. He worked there selling Vodafone's fixedline business before coming home last year to lead the UK division.

A source close to Vodafone said: 'Bill has only just started. The company has always said this will take two years to turn round.'

Analysts said that Morrow, along with incoming finance director Andy Halford, were seen as golden boys by Sarin, who had high hopes for them.

Halford has accompanied Sarin on missions to woo City bankers, but Vodafone denied that this amounted to the sidelining of Ken Hydon, the incumbent finance director who departs in July.

Some analysts said Sarin's posture about the board's 'old guard' was markedly negative. One said: 'Sarin clearly wants to mark a difference. He is putting his stamp on things.'

Meanwhile, some executives at Vodafone rival Orange have been told they will not receive a bonus for the second half of last year. And the company has warned that it is costing more than £700 to acquire each new third-generation subscriber.

An e-mail from executive vice-president-Bernard Ghillebaert also warns that Orange is £20 million short of prepay revenue targets in the first two months of 2005.

'The final quarter of 2004 was much better than the third quarter,' a source said, adding: 'Ghillebaert is piling on the pressure to get improvements in the pay-as-you go sector.'

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