Vodafone growth down

NEWS Vodafone CEO Chris Gent said that growth is likely to fall to 20 per cent this year, following four years of growth topping 50 per cent. He told a conference in Barcelona that the company will focus on increasing customer spending rather than chasing growth in an effort to beat some revenue costs. Vodafone's customer base increased 12 per cent from 83 million to 93.1 million in the first quarter of 2001. Gent predicted that the healthy, yet diminished growth - allayed with stabilising ARPU (average revenues per user) - will lead to higher than expected revenues next year. Meanwhile, state prosecutors in Dusseldorf have denied their investigation into the Vodafone CEO is over. Gent and other Vodafone executives have been accused of illegally offering multi-million pound sweeteners to key Mannesmann chiefs during the £110bn takeover last year. Reports in UK weekend papers claimed the investigation had been called off.