"Vodafone Group" Plc, the world"s largest mobile telephony operator, reported a 2.9% increase in earnings, during the first fiscal quarter and plans to trim its expenses by an additional GBP 1 billion (USD 1.66 billion).
The company"s EBITDA stands at GBP 7.46 billion, at the end of the semester which ended on September 30th, compared to GBP 7.24 billion in the similar period of 2008.
The company expects an operating profit of GBP 11-11.8 billion for the current fiscal year.
The company"s sales increased 9.3% in the period discussed, to GBP 21.76 billion.
Vittorio Colao, executive manager of the company, says: "The group"s performance was in line with our expectations, and we have made progress in achieving our strategic priorities, especially on the data segment. The program to cut GBP 1 billion off costs will continue into 2012".
"Vodafone" is cutting costs in order to compensate for the decline in demand for telephony services.
The market value of "Vodafone" is GBP 72.6 billion, as its stock lost 0.8% this year.
In Europe, the company"s revenues dropped 4.5%, (notwithstanding exchange rate fluctuations and acquisitions), and 3.2% in Africa and Central Europe.