Vodafone, Teliasonera to show emerging mkt power

LONDON, UK: Mobile phone operators Vodafone and Teliasonera will post results on Thursday showing emerging markets and Internet data connections offsetting price competition and regulation in Europe.

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, is set to publish third-quarter results with strong growth in India and South Africa, improving conditions in Britain and Germany, and weakness in Spain and Italy.

With European revenues waning as competition and regulation pushed down call prices, investors will also be looking for growth in the demand for mobile data services which allow users to access the Internet when on the go.

Analysts expect Vodafone to report low single digit percentage growth to 10.9 billion pounds in group service revenue, though comparisons with last year are difficult to gauge because the group has since restructured and because of currency fluctuations.

European service revenues are expected to be near flat at 7.6 billion pounds, and the group is expected to reiterate its outlook.

Teliasonera, Europe's fifth-biggest operator by market cap, is seen reporting roughly flat results as growth in its emerging markets such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan offsets declining revenues at home.

TeliaSonera faces tough competition in the mature markets of the Nordic region and a decline in its traditional fixed-line business.

Prospects are looking up, however. Revenue is beginning to recover from the downturn that hit consumers across the globe, and increasing use of laptops and smartphones, which generate data service revenues, is pushing up income again.

TeliaSonera is seen posting fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and excluding one-offs of 9 billion Swedish crowns ($1.41 billion), in line with the same period last year and down 7.5 per cent from the July-September period due to lower margins.