Australia's third-ranked mobile carrier Vodafone has lifted total customer numbers to 5.5 million and trimmed its first-half loss despite a drop in revenue.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) reported a net loss of $164 million for the six months to June 30, 2016, down from $259 million a year earlier.
The carrier lifted total customer numbers by 4.5 per cent, year-on-year, to 5.5 million, with growth in its branded subscriber base of 2.6 per cent to 4.9 million.
Post-paid customer numbers were up 4.2 per cent to 3.3 million, while customers on pre-paid plans fell 0.4 per cent to 1.68 million.
The number of wholesale customers connecting through other retailers lifted 29 per cent to 508,000.
In its results announcement, made on Friday afternoon in Australia, VHA said it expected growth to continue, largely driven by the postpaid segment.
VHA, a 50/50 joint venture between Vodafone Group and Hutchison Whampoa, posted a 9.7 per cent drop in total revenue to $1.6 billion for the half, attributing the drop to a regulated drop in call termination charges.
The drop in so-called mobile termination rates took place in January and caused a 4.3 per cent drop in the key measure of gross average revenue per user to $49.11.
