Vodafone sees 'significant' 3G rise

Vodafone has reported its half-yearly results and while it noted group revenue was up 11 per cent to GBP 17 billion, the mobile games industry will be most interested in the potential that its 3G results may bring.

According to the financial statement data revenue increased year-on-year by 45.1 per cent, while the take-up of 3G devices almost doubled to 21 million globally and much of the total group growth of 1.7 per cent was attributed to this rise.

"This growth was achieved predominantly by strong performance in data revenue, following improved service offerings and a significant increase in the number of 3G devices."

3G has long been considered one of the best routes for encouraging customers to explore the potential for downloading mobile games.

However, while data services increased their overall revenue within Vodafone's offering from 4.5 per cent of total earnings to 6.1 per cent, there was no mention of individual component earnings, such as games, music or video, within that.