Vodafone share price: Group enters highly-competitive UK broadband market

Vodafone (LON:VOD) has launched a consumer broadband service in the UK as telecommunications operators seek to offer a full range of media services to customers in the highly competitive market.

Vodafone’s ‘Connect’, which provides speeds of up 76 Mbps, will initially be offered to existing UK customers in Manchester, Berkshire and parts of Hampshire and Surrey, followed by Essex, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire in the next few weeks, the company has announced. Existing customers will be able to take up the fibre service for £10 a month for the first 12 months, plus line rental, while non-Vodafone customers will be offered the package at £25 later in the year.
Cindy Rose, consumer director at Vodafone UK, said in a statement today: “We know our customers depend on us to stay connected, and now we can satisfy their needs both at home and on the go. As the only operator in the UK which owns both a fixed and mobile network, we’re in a great position to create innovative products and services that give our existing customers reasons to stay with us and new customers’ reasons to switch.”
But Paulo Pescatore, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said as quoted by Reuters today that “rivals should not be overly concerned, for now”. While he noted that the move was “a step in the right direction towards offering a converged multiplay service,” Pescatore added that Vodafone will need to “clearly articulate benefits and features” if it wants to succeed in acquiring a significant market share.
In the UK, rival Virgin Media, owned by Liberty Global, already offers fixed telephony, mobile, broadband and pay-television. Telecoms giant BT Group (LON:BT.A) has also agreed to buy EE, which would allow the broadcaster to offer mobile services for the first time in more than a decade.
Vodafone’s share price has been steady so far today. As of 13:55 BST, the stock was trading 0.12 percent higher at 242.05p.
As of 14:48 BST, Wednesday, 10 June, Vodafone Group plc share price is 242.30p.