Vodafone said today its customers were spending less on their phone bills despite sending more text messages.
The world's largest mobile phone operator said average spend per customer in its major markets fell in the last six months, led by a 22 per cent drop in Germany, where there was a big rise in the number of lower spending pay-as-you-go customers.
It said one in 10 of its customers had not made or received a call in three months and were classified as inactive subscribers.
The percentage of revenues coming from data, primarily text messaging, rose to 8.1 per cent in the year to March from 6.2 per cent a year earlier. For March alone the figure was 9.3 per cent.