Vodafone Unveils 3G-Heavy Christmas Lineup

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Mobile phone operator Vodafone Group, Monday unveiled its Christmas handset lineup, featuring a large number of 3G phones spanning a broad price range.

Vodafone is strongly pushing 3G handsets for this year's festive season - announcing a range of phones from manufacturers LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson - and will launch its own "entry level" Vodafone 3G phone from Huawei to reach consumers at all price levels.

It is also trying to push 3G uptake by launching a greater number of mobile TV and radio phones.

"One of the reasons the take up of 3G has been slow has been due to price of handsets," said a spokesman for Vodafone. "There's now been a decline in cost for the end user."

ING analyst Damien Chew said in the current market, signing up new customers by offering attractive handsets may not be as important as customer retention.

"After all the Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u issues, growth is to some extent not as important as customer retention. But it's hard to draw specific calculations as to whether it will be a good or bad Christmas for Vodafone, as they don't detail prices," said Chew.

Thursday Vodafone did a deal with mobile phone retailer Phones4U that means rival retailer Carphone Warehouse Group will no longer be able to offer Vodafone contracts.

At 0900 GMT, Vodafone shares were down 0.4%, or 0.5 pence, at 130 pence.

Vodafone will also launch its first phones from manufacturer LG and says it has secured "good exclusivity" from a number of phone makers in the US, Europe and Asia.

"We are offering handsets at a range of prices enabling more customers to enjoy Vodafone's music, television and email services on their mobiles this Christmas," said Vodafone's Chief Marketing Officer Frank Rovekamp.

WestLB analyst Morten Singleton said handsets play an important role when customers choose a mobile phone deal.

"All mobile operators are looking to cut costs and handsets are one area to do that, but they must be mindful that customers choose handsets first and carriers second," said Singleton.

WestLB maintains its hold recommendation, with a target price of 128 pence.

Company Web site: http://www.vodafone.com

-By Daniel Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; dan.thomas@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 16th October 2006