Vodafone Group - Q3 2023
February 1, 2023
Transcript
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining me for our third quarter update. Before I open to questions from our analysts, I wanted to set out some context to our performance and my priorities for the year ahead. The challenges we face are evident in our performance during the quarter. Service revenue grew 1.8%, we only grew 0.5% excluding Türkiye, where inflation levels are very high. In Europe, our service revenue declined 1.1%, with Germany declining 1.8%, Italy declining 3.3%, and Spain declining 8.7%. Sustainable growth in Europe is possible. This is demonstrated by our ongoing good growth in the U.K. at 5.3% in the quarter and also in our other European markets.
Sustainable growth is possible when we have the right combination of market conditions and strong commercial plans focused on customers' needs. Declining service revenue in three of our four largest European markets is simply not good enough, and I know we are capable of doing better. In order to create the right conditions to improve performance, I have reprioritized our efforts on three key areas: customers, simplicity, and growth. Looking first at how we serve our customers. In order to perform well in all of our markets, we need to deliver a consistent experience. High quality connectivity provided in a way which is simple and frictionless as our customers expect. Over the last few weeks, we have already made some changes to our processes to ensure they better reflect our customers' needs.
We have fully empowered our markets to make the right commercial decisions locally, which brings decision-making closer to our customers. We have also changed our resource allocation processes to ensure they are directly guided by what customers actually want, market by market, as opposed to what we think they may want. Let me give you an example. In our sector, we are always very focused on deploying the newest technology. More often than not, our customers care more about having a seamless experience. Therefore, within our cost and CapEx envelope, we will be reallocating more investment to key aspects of our customer service that need intervention. Second, we need to become simpler. From a financial perspective, our productivity has improved significantly, and we have reached a sector-leading position. We've achieved this by leveraging our scale, standardizing best practice.
We've achieved this by leveraging our scale, standardizing best practices, and deploying digital technologies. We have also become more complex. We are not as agile as we once were, and it does not need to be this way. As we have moved decision-making into the markets, we have now reduced the commercial and support teams in the group center. We will also ensure that a rigorous industrial model is applied to any operational activity that is shared for the benefit of the markets. The actions we have already undertaken will deliver around 50% of the GBP 1 billion OpEx target I set in November. Finally, on to growth. My key target is to continue broadening our price actions across our markets to meet the ongoing cost pressures and support our investments. We also need to reengineer our commercial model in Germany.
We have a new management team in place. We have identified clear opportunities to improve our sales and marketing effectiveness. We will redefine the range of propositions available across our channels, as well as simplifying both our front book and back book plans. We'll also continue to reallocate more investment towards Vodafone Business, where we are growing consistently and gaining share in almost all our markets. I thought it would be useful today to share as clearly as possible what I am working on and what our direction of travel is. I'll now hand over to the moderator for your questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you, Margherita. As a reminder, please keep to one question to give all analysts a chance to ask a question. Our first question comes from David Wright at Bank of America. David, please enable your camera and audio, and please go ahead.
David Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. I think I've done all the clicks. I hope you can hear me, Margherita, and see me, too.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Hello, David.
David Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you very much for taking the call today. If we just think, Nick's departure above you, reports suggested there was a frustration with the execution of the strategy, the pace of execution of the strategy. Now that may or may not be true, but I think the share price clearly tells the story from investors' perspectives. It seems to me today that you are changing some of that strategy, and in particular, there seems to be more focus on the autonomy, the local market autonomy, for example. I guess the question I have is, to what extent are you empowered to change the portfolio strategy, potential M&A actions, etc? Now, for instance, if there was an approach to acquire an asset from Vodafone. Are you empowered to accept that?
I say that again with a mind on reports of potential change in the management structure. Are you empowered to facilitate large scale M&A? I guess on that particular point, maybe an update on the U.K. deal, or is that something that is now perhaps not on the agenda? I guess that's my question. To what extent, beyond the operational strategy, do you feel empowered to change the portfolio or accelerate that part of the original strategy? Thank you very much. I hope that was clear.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Very clear, David. First of all, let me say that there are no constraints in terms of managing the portfolio. In terms of focus, I'd say my priorities remain the same. I would say two directions. The first is completing the towers joint venture. You have seen the minority tender offer results now coming through, we continue to progress within our target of closing the JV by the first half of calendar 2023. No changes there. The second priority remains very much consolidation. Again, nothing changes still. Four markets we see as key in terms of opportunities for consolidation, these remain Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Portugal.
To your question around the U.K., again, continuing to progress the discussions with Hutchison on a U.K. merger, which we think would be very important and beneficial to us, but also to the U.K. market more broadly. On top of that, of course, you will have seen us completing the sale of Hungary just yesterday and then completing also the transfer of Egypt into Vodacom in December. I was focusing in my introduction very much, as you pointed out, on our organic performance, because I think in the portfolio we need to continue to progress in the directions we have outlined. It's really important for me that we bring Europe back to growth and we improve our operational performance. We have said today we are expecting to see a gradual improvement from now on in operational performance.
We have said today we are expecting to see a gradual improvement from now on in European performance. But it's really important for me to create the right condition. We are expecting to see a gradual improvement from now on in European performance. But it's really important for me to create the right conditions, operationally, and that's where I have focused the changes that we have made as a team in the last few weeks. I was mentioning earlier the devolution of full authority on commercial decisions and customer decisions to the markets so that we are more agile and closer to our customers. The simplification of our central functions and also the changes we've made to the management team.
As I was saying earlier, the actions we have taken also in the last few months collectively allow me to say today that of the EUR 1 billion additional cost target we mentioned in November, effectively around 50% is now fully operationalized. I would say key focus is re-acceleration of organic growth for me.
David Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Just to clarify, when you say consolidation in those markets, that could be Vodafone consolidated, they could be asset sales just as easily as it could be assets acquired. Is that correct?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Nothing has changed on our portfolio management criteria. You will remember we, and I think we have proven also with the recent transaction that we can be pragmatic. We are testing our assets against possibility of delivering return, fits within our regional scale, and importantly, are we the best owner of the business? Nothing has changed on that perspective.
David Wright (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you very much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew Lee at Goldman Sachs. Andrew, please go ahead.
Andrew Lee (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Hi. Good morning, Margherita. Thanks for your questions and your focus on execution that you highlighted. Just following on from David's on portfolio management. Just a specific question on German commercial momentum. You highlighted on the last call better commercial momentum in Germany. You raised prices in October on the back of that. We've seen worse KPIs as a result this quarter. For us at least, tangible evidence of improved commercial momentum is thin on the ground. The question is, what are you seeing that gives you confidence? How do you turn around that poor performance? What part does pricing play within that? Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, Andrew. I think this is an important question for today. Let me take a little bit of time to go through what we see. First of all, you are absolutely right. Our performance in Germany is clearly disappointing. On the service revenue side, we did say in November that the second half of the year would be the low point for the market as we have the historic losses that we have suffered from in the last year flowing through. This is what's happening today. On the net adds, you mentioned the net adds. Specifically there, it's the change in trend, if you want, is very much the result of our price moves that we did in the middle of November.
We have been the first to reflect the inflationary pressure in our pricing in Germany, we are suffering a degree of pain for that, negative net adds in fixed broadband and also roughly stable customer base in mobile. This is a direct consequence of our price actions. Very simply, we have seen our gross add share moderating as a consequence. The flip side of the volume impact is ARPU, I think it's important we always look at these two in conjunction. On the ARPU front, our inflow ARPUs actually increased by the same percentage in both fixed and mobile. Fixed, we increased our headline prices. Mobile, we reduced the promotion, the result was the same, a 15% inflow ARPU increase since mid-November in Germany.
Now it's worth for me calling out the fact that the dynamics of the market around us have been very different though in fixed and in mobile in Germany. Now it's worth for me calling out the fact that the dynamics of the market around us have been very different though in fixed and in mobile. I'd say somehow surprisingly in mobile, we have reduced our promotions, but the wider market has remained very promotional, very high data allowances in particular. Fixed was a different story because in fixed, promotional intensity in the market has actually moderated since we have taken our price actions. For us, having taken a price action on the front book on the new customers is also now giving us the optionality to take action on the back book on our existing customer base. That's for pricing.
In terms of then maybe operations, definitely we have the opportunity to unlock better performance, as I said. On one end, the remedial actions of the Telco Law are now complete. Our systems are working. The, if you want, COVID impacts on the cable network are behind us. I think it's great to have seen our Net Promoter Score on the cable network continuously growing month after month. You know how we have invested there, and we are now actually back to the level of customer satisfaction that we had pre-COVID. That's good. However, the observation I'm making is that as we were busy resolving our operational issues, I think the market in Germany has also moved on. Moved on in terms of retail. It's not what it was pre-COVID. Moved on in terms of proposition.
For example, family plans are very much in focus. We have remained a little bit behind from that perspective, but we have a new team now. Not just Philippe, the new CEO, but also a new consumer commercial director, and they are busy effectively re-engineering our sales and marketing approach in Germany. In a nutshell, because I know I'm taking too long, although everyone is very interested in Germany, we are changing three things. First of all, simplifying the front book and the back book offers in the market. This is something you have seen us doing in the other markets in the last 18 months, but Germany had not done it yet. Number two, we are reviewing the range of proposition that we distribute in the various channels to make sure particularly we regain competitiveness in direct.
Number three, we are investing in, I would say, the quality and simplicity of our customer services. Net-net, we continue to see the same evolution on the revenues that we were seeing before, in terms of re-acceleration starting from H2 into FY 2024. These are a little bit the things we are currently working on.
Andrew Lee (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, Andrew.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Carl Murdock-Smith at Berenberg. Carl, please go ahead.
Carl Murdock-Smith (Equity Research Analyst)
Morning, Margherita. I just wanted to ask if you could provide us with an update on the energy cost headwinds that you gave us at H1 and give us updated values. Thank you very much.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Sure. In a nutshell, we said we had a GBP 500 million headwind into FY 2024. This is now just under GBP 400 million. Clearly, you have seen the dynamics of the energy markets moderating, and we have effectively gone back to our normal hedging policy. When I say just under GBP 400 million, it's on the back of having hedged 80% roughly of FY 2024. Effectively, it's 100% all the way to December, already locked in.
For the final quarter, still hedging to progress during the year together with the PPAs plan. The other element we have now more visibility on is the dynamics beyond FY 2024. The full FY 2024 headwind, so the EUR 400 million I've just mentioned, is going to unwind in FY 2025 and FY 2026. We see it from the prices we have locked in with PPAs as well as obviously the forward curves.
Carl Murdock-Smith (Equity Research Analyst)
That's fantastic. Thank you very much.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question today comes from Emmet Kelly at Morgan Stanley. Emmet, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
Emmet Kelly (Head of European Telco and Data Centers)
Yes. Good morning, everybody, and good morning, Margherita. My question is actually the same as I asked in November, which is if you could give a quick update on Italy, the competitive and pricing trends you're seeing there, and any preliminary thoughts, Margherita, on a potential VAT change in Italy and what that could mean for Vodafone. Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Sure. First, maybe starting from the end, I don't see major movements in our performance in Italy in the coming quarters. There are a number of puts and takes I wouldn't get into. We see our business revenues accelerating. We clearly will see the MVNO impacts going away. Roughly similar is how we should expect it to be. In terms of competition, again, very intense in general. There have been a little changes at the back end of the low end. For the consumer market, we have seen the lowest price point moving from what used to be EUR 5-EUR 7 today. Admittedly still incredibly low, especially for the allowances that are being given. We're still selling effectively traffic well below cost.
So, that's not changing. You mentioned the discussion on VAT. I think there is a clear acknowledgment in the new government that the situation of the telco industry as it is today is not delivering sufficient sustainable returns for all the players involved to actually invest, Italy is falling behind on 5G deployment even relative to the rest of Europe. It's a clear issue. The VAT discussions are ongoing.
The point on the table is moving from 22% down to the numbers which is most widely referred to is 10%. This is allowed by the European rules now, so it's a local decision. The reason why the discussions are ongoing is clearly this requires funding from from the government and therefore, if the funding has to be found, then the final decision has to be taken, but it could be an important step to support the market there.
Emmet Kelly (Head of European Telco and Data Centers)
Thank you very much.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, Emmet.
Operator (participant)
Our next question this morning comes from John Karidis at Numis. John, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
John Karidis (Director of Equity Research)
Good morning. Thank you very much for taking my question. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask please about the quantum of the proceeds that you're likely to get from Vantage Towers now that the voluntary takeover offer has completed. Are you in a position to sort of narrow the range a little bit for us, please?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Sure, John. The number is EUR 6.6 billion in the 50/50 JV closure that is being targeted. It's a bit higher than it was at in November when we talked about EUR 5.8 billion because as a result of the closing of the minority tender offer in Germany, which is giving the JV partners an 89% ownership level in the near term, we will have higher proceeds.
John Karidis (Director of Equity Research)
You feel comfortable that it will be 50/50 by the time the deal closes?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
That's what everyone is targeting. As you know, if for any reason, anything happening between now and then that wasn't the case, we still have the possibility to sell down ourselves. The consortium is firmly targeting a 50/50. As I was saying earlier, we are on track to complete by mid 2023.
John Karidis (Director of Equity Research)
Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, John.
Operator (participant)
As a reminder, if you could please keep it to one question to give all analysts a chance to ask a question. With that, we are going to Akhil Dattani at JPMorgan. Akhil, please go ahead.
Akhil Dattani (Head of Telecoms Equity Research)
Thanks. Morning, Margherita.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Hello.
Akhil Dattani (Head of Telecoms Equity Research)
Hi. Can I ask a question on pricing? You mentioned in your introduction that you've got eight markets now where you've effectively got CPI-linked pricing mechanisms implemented. I guess I wanted to understand how you think about the sustainability and benefits of that. Obviously the whole industry is starting to move down that direction, obviously as yet, share prices haven't benefited. Clearly, the market's quite skeptical. I guess what I'd love to understand is a couple of things. Firstly, when you think about conviction around these price changes, how do you marry that versus your comments earlier about more mixed commercial performance in recent quarters? I guess how easy or how much confidence you have that price increases can work when maybe the commercial momentum is not quite yet where you want it to be.
I think the second piece of it was just on regulation. In both Portugal and the U.K., the regulators have commented around their disapproval about the scale of price increases the telco industry is putting through. Can you maybe just help us understand the conversations you're having with these parties? What gives you the confidence they won't intervene or do something that could derail this pricing ambition? Thanks.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you. Three parts. I'd say first of all, the CPI model itself and how we are applying it. I think it's really important to introduce this model wherever possible because it's what gives the biggest transparency to the customers. It's very predictable. We introduce it into the contracts as we have done in for example, Spain, where we have started activating the clause now in January. We have introduced it into the contract in October, November. From then on, I would say you keep going. There are two very important aspects for me in the, if you want, sustainability of points that you raise on the mechanism. The first is to be very clear, and I think this is relevant to your question on regulators as well, that these price increases are not going to impact our vulnerable customers.
This is something that we are doing all across Europe. If I take the U.K. as an example, you may be more familiar with, we have been the first operator in the market to introduce social tariffs on both fixed and mobile. We have the same approach across all our markets. These social tariffs are not subject to price increases, so that the people who are really challenged by this are effectively protected. This is really critical in the conversation with the regulators. I would say the regulators are looking for this and are looking for transparency, which I would argue the CPI models are best suited to deliver this as opposed to ad hoc price increases. The second point beyond vulnerable customers that is important for sustainability is making sure wherever possible to maintain alignment on the front book and the back book pricing.
Again, we could discuss separately where it is possible, where it is more difficult. I think you are seeing that all across Europe, the industry is taking action on pricing. It's not surprising given the returns we start from and the cost pressures we are under, which is why you even hear discussions like the one we had with Henrik before around VAT. Actions need to be taken.
I think it's actually a good opportunity for me to really say this very clearly. To your last point on volume, I really think that we need to change the focus in the narrative from volume to value. All we care about or you care about is the net acquired or lost value that we bring in in a quarter. It's not the net adds volume. It has to be the full value equation. I think it's really critical, you probably have heard me say this before. It's really critical at this point in time for the industry that that's what we all focus on.
Akhil Dattani (Head of Telecoms Equity Research)
Great. Thanks so much.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Stanislas Noel at Bernstein. Stan, please go ahead.
Stanislas Noel (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning, Margherita. Regarding the autonomy and accountability given to the local markets, I guess this is really applying to commercial decisions, right? I mean, sales, marketing. Good morning, Margherita. Regarding the autonomy and accountability given to the local markets, I guess this is really applying to commercial decisions, right? I mean, sales, marketing. What about technology functions? Would you consider bringing them back closer to the markets to give even more autonomy to the local CEOs?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
For me, it's all about clarity of accountabilities. Let me try and explain how I see the balance that always every group has to find between the regional pay, the regional standardization and the local agility. I'm sorry, on commercial decisions, on customer decisions, we always had the key decisions fitting with the markets, but with a degree of oversight, which over the years probably sort of built a little bit farther than I would want. For me, it's been really important to delegate full autonomy to the market. They have authority, and they have accountability so that there is no ambiguity, that decisions are taken end to end, close to the customers.
The situation is different in scaled operations like technology, where we have a single technology team in Europe. Standardizing and driving benefit through scale in our operations has been one of the key levers of our cost performance. You know that we are one of the most efficient operators, and it's on the back of that. Again, in those areas, for me, the mission is to make sure there are no ambiguity. If you want your activity to be considered a scale shared operation, so we want to maintain technology operations shared, they need to be managed in a certain way, and that certain way needs to be what I call today an industrial model. Which means standardized factories producing for market demand with benchmarked unitary pricing that we can benchmark externally.
We have done this successfully, I would say for many years in areas like procurements, in areas like data centers, in areas like call centers, in shared services. What I'm really keen on is to make sure that any activity that we continue to share is managed according to this industrial model so that we can get the benefits of our scale whilst at the same time continuing to drive productivity effectively.
Stanislas Noel (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question this morning comes from Polo Tang at UBS. Please go ahead, Polo.
Polo Tang (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Morning. Thanks for taking the question. It's just a question about Etisalat because they're continuing to build their stake in the company. They now have a 12% shareholding. What have they said to you about their intentions? Press reports have suggested that Etisalat is interested in acquiring Vodacom specifically. Would you be open to divesting Vodacom if the price was right?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
I'd say on the what Etisalat is saying, I can refer you to their public statements. The recent one in January was reiterating their earlier messages in May. As they have added to their stake, they've reconfirmed their intention to be a long-term supporting shareholder with no intent of control, if you want. That's the May statement that they have reiterated recently. You then ask about Vodacom. Specifically, Vodacom is one of the best assets that we have in the group, as you know. It's core to our growth performance. It's core also to our returns performance. Clearly, the board will always consider any option that can create value for shareholders.
I'm just back actually from Johannesburg, and I need to say, it was great to see the first review there since the integration of Egypt, which well complements the other markets in which we operate. Just as a reminder for everyone, in Vodacom, we are leaders in every single market in which we operate. Clearly, we have growth opportunities through fintech there. Now with Egypt, we have engineered the integration in order to maximize the synergies, financial services, but also digital for the rest of Vodacom. There are clearly very good growth opportunities there being, again, one of our strongest assets.
Polo Tang (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
The next question comes from Maurice Patrick from Barclays. Maurice is on his phone this morning. You will not be able to see him.
Maurice Patrick (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Yeah, sorry about that. The internet's making it sound. Making, creating barriers. Question from me, please, on the EU. I think the European Union is due to come out shortly with its consultation on Big Tech and paying fair share towards network capacity. I know you've been quite vocal yourselves about this in the past, but given that there seems to be momentum building somewhat in terms of the lobby efforts to get the Big Tech giants to pay for some of the capacity costs that you guys have been having, I wondered your thoughts in terms of your conversations as to the likelihood of this going through, whether you think the lobby effort has momentum behind it.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Sure. We clearly welcome the consultation. Also I need to note the recent statements that you have probably read just in the last couple of weeks, first from Ursula von der Leyen and then yesterday from Margrethe Vestager, which all, I think, point to a good understanding of the problem now. You will have heard both of them really talking to the impossible position we are in in Europe in terms of returns. It's clear that the Big Tech company, which today are driving the top six over 50% of the European traffic, are introducing new innovations, new technologies such as the metaverse, which means that in the coming years the traffic will continue to grow even faster.
It's also clear that everyone wants the European consumer to be able to access to these innovations on good quality networks. I think it's well understood now in Europe that this customer experience is at risk because of the level of returns in the sector. What I would say is it's very good that the problem is now well acknowledged and I think well understood. We have seen the Digital Markets Act, by the way, which has been already issued as a first step in the right direction in terms of, if you want, parity of treatment between the players. I don't think we can expect the telco operators in Europe to bear all the hits that will come from these new technologies and this traffic growth.
There is a problem, and it's good that Europe is now taking steps to consider solutions to that problem.
Maurice Patrick (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Great. Have you tried quantifying it at all, Margherita? Any numbers to share?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
No. Sorry. No numbers. Actually, I was thinking that may be a question for my CFO, but no CFO today and no numbers.
Maurice Patrick (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Okay. Thanks, Margherita.
Operator (participant)
The next question comes from James Ratzer at New Street. James, please go ahead.
James Ratzer (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Yes. Good morning, Margherita. Thank you for the call. I was wondering if I could ask a bit about the EBITDA guidance, please, which I see you've reiterated. The November results, I think you talked about kind of three drivers for the H2 recovery. There was Vodacom, there was low in A&R expenses and some of your cost out initiatives. Just be great to get an update on whether those three levers are all intact for the second half. Given we're now in February, you know, do you see your numbers trending towards the higher end of that EBITDA range or the lower end? What are the risk puts and takes around the bottom and top of the range at the moment? Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Sure. In terms of the levers of November, they remain the same. We are progressing on the cost initiatives. You've heard me say how much has been operationalized already. On the A&R front, the big answered promotions in Germany closed in November, and we're now comparing ourselves to a more normal H2 in the prior year post-COVID. Vodacom itself was a bit weak in terms of service revenue growth in the quarter because of the internationals. There have been some access difficulties in the DRC in the quarter, for example, but this will reverse going forward. The three levers remain the same. What I would say is probably, in terms of evolution since November on other fronts, I would call out the fact that, well, the German performance remains disappointing overall. That's very clear.
From a technical perspective, we had a second devaluation in Egypt that is impacting our EBITDA performance. At the other end of the spectrum, we have had still on a technical basis, you may remember we had some tax benefits in Spain in the first half. These have continued into the second half, so a bit more support from that we originally expected. Stepping back from all this, we are continuing to target the same ranges as before, EUR 15 billion-15.2 billion and around EUR 5.1 billion for the cash flow generation.
James Ratzer (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Is that Spanish benefit you're talking on taxes enough to take you to the higher end of the range, or some of the commentary on Germany more pulling you down to the lower end of the range?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
I think we need to see. We have still three months to go. We need to see how the puts and takes add up, James. I think today we're not changing our guidance range.
James Ratzer (Managing Director of Equity Research)
Got it clear. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question we have this morning is from Jerry Dellis at Jefferies. Please go ahead, Jerry.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Hi, Jerry.
Jerry Dellis (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning. Hi, Margherita. Thank you for taking my question. I suppose just coming back to your sort of ambition to restore the European business to growth, I suppose what we've seen for much of the last sort of 15 years is essentially in European mobile, it's the sort of the challenges that take revenue market share and the incumbents and Vodafone that for the most part, sort of, are on the other side of that. I suppose perhaps, you know, there are one or two sort of different situations, such as perhaps Deutsche Telekom in Germany, where arguably the benefit on their side is a strong customer perception of network quality, and a very good sort of, NPS and branding scores.
As you seek to sort of restore Vodafone Europe to growth, you think you can really do it within the current sort of investment perimeter? Do you believe that as you sort of really reframe the strategy for the medium and the longer term, might not be necessary to invest more in areas such as fiber or in German network quality, or really just in restoring customer service levels to the sort of levels necessary for customers to believe in the brand a bit more? How would that fit into the obviously the dividend discussion? Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, Jerry. I see this very much as an opportunity for reallocating resources within our envelopes. I'm really keen, and you have heard me talking about this in my introduction today, to make sure that we direct our resources to what really matters to the customers, which is not always, I would argue, what sometimes we think within, if you want, the telco industry management teams. For that, I've actually spent quite a bit of time with my team here really looking through to the customer insights and what in every market are customers prioritizing in the usual trade-offs. You know, is it a matter of pricing? Is it network quality? Is it customer service quality? More often than not, my perspective is that we are undercalling the importance of delivering frictionless, seamless, simple service to the customers.
We tend to get very passionate about things that we also generally do well, like driving new technologies. I think there is room to respond better to our customer needs by focusing on the basics of service, which can be digital, which can be automated, but needs to be, if you want, simple and effective. This is why I've already made a change in the way we run our capital allocation reviews. We have just closed those in the last couple of weeks. I'm in planning season, I want to make sure that the voice of the customer is always sitting at the table effectively when we take those decisions. More broadly, we have a substantial investment envelope, as you know, or cost envelope, more broadly. I think there is room for reallocations in that.
In terms of the points you are raising very specifically, which are about the German network and the fiber, let me say that, we're very pleased to be where we are today with our cable network in Germany. You know that there were pressures under COVID because of the different traffic patterns. These pressures have now been fully resolved, which is why we see the benefits in NPS that I was mentioning earlier. On the fiber front, the way to go about addressing this type of business case for us is definitely the JV we have set up with Altice previously. Don't expect any significant change. Clearly, we are planning now, but don't expect any material change in terms of overall resource envelope.
Jerry Dellis (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you. That's very clear. Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
We have time for one more question this morning from Jakob Bluestone at Credit Suisse. Jakob, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
Jakob Bluestone (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks for fitting me in. Maybe just following on from Jerry's question about reallocation of resources. You've talked a bit about some of the things you'll do more about to drive organic growth. Can you maybe expand a bit on what are you going to do less of? I mean, it sounds like you're maybe gonna spend less on new technologies or what is it you're scaling back to sort of keep the overall investment envelope unchanged?
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
It's a really good question, Jakob, also because I see all the changes we are driving as shifts, and it's important to talk about what we shift towards and what this rebalancing effectively means. In terms of, if you want reallocation from aspect, what I'm really keen to do is simplify the way we manage our consumer businesses across Europe. You know that effectively our offers to the customers are today much simpler. I was mentioning earlier, not yet in Germany. We are getting there. Simpler offers better alignment between back book and front book and simple service that needs to be frictionless.
We need to ensure that the way we run our consumer businesses end to end, all the way from the HQ into the market is, I would say, fit for purpose for what the consumer dynamics are today in telcos. This allows us also internally to simplify, which is why in the roles reduction we have just executed in the HQ, the most significant impact was commercial areas. I think there are opportunities to automate, simplify and really right-size our activities to what the customer needs. In terms of sources of the extra investment, I think that is a key shift that we are busy making.
Jakob Bluestone (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Thank you.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, Jakob.
Operator (participant)
This concludes the Q&A session for this morning, and I would now like to hand back to Margherita for any closing remarks.
Margherita Della Valle (CEO)
Thank you, everyone. Just wanted to say, good to see you today and, looking forward to update you on our progress in May.