Vodafone confirms new UK shops

The share price of Vodafone is down this morning (April 3rd) after investors responded negatively to the news the company is planning to create over a thousand new UK jobs.

Vodafone revealed that its investment in the UK is to be pushed beyond £1 billion for the first time as a result of the move, which will see 150 new shops opening, creating 1,400 jobs.

Cash is also to be spent by the firm on boosting its indoor and outdoor coverage, as well as rolling out its 2G, 3G and 4G services to 98 per cent of the UK in the coming months.

Vodafone is one of the biggest mobile phone operators in Europe and the company recently confirmed the purchase of a competitor from Spain – Ono – in a deal reported to be worth as much as 7.2 billion euros (£6 billion).

Financial situation

The firm is cash-rich at the present time as it recently sold its 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon Communications, which was one of the biggest deals in corporate history.

Some £54 billion was passed on to its shareholders as a result of the deal, while Vodafone also signalled its intention to invest money in its business, with large chunks of money earmarked by the firm for high speed mobile phone networks.

Vodafone has stated that due to the investments it is making across the continent, by 2017 its main five European markets are going to have almost complete 4G coverage, making it one of the region's most dominant mobile phone operators. The Ono deal is likely to be the first of many.

But investors do not seem to be fully on board with the future plans of the business, as the share price of Vodafone slipped back in the early stages of trading this morning. By 08:35 BST on the London Stock Exchange, shares in the company were down by more than 0.5 per cent.

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