Vodafone has published its key performance indicators for the last year, and things are looking good for the world's second largest mobile phone operator.

Subscriber numbers should hit 200 million by the end of January, still lagging behind the 300 million connected by China Telecom but they only operate in one market while Vodafone's customers are all over the globe.

Some 13.6 million of those customers are now using 3G handsets, which is nice, and is one of the factors driving data revenue up 32.2 per cent over the last year. Increased data services to business also contributed to that increase, but it's good to see data revenue rising when income from voice calls is less reliable.

Voice usage is up 17 per cent, though in the UK a lot of that is attributed to the popularity of a deal offering free weekend calls if enough money is spent during the week. About 1.7 million pre-paid customers have taken up the offer, accounting for part of the 22.1 per cent increase in outgoing calls.

Nothing terribly exciting, as Chief Executive Arun Sari commented:

"These KPIs are very much in line with expectations and show that we are continuing to make progress in executing our strategy." ®