Vodafone announced a slowdown in customer growth in the first quarter today and said it expected the trend to continue as it switched its focus to boosting profits.
The world's largest mobile phone firm said it added 4.4 million customers worldwide in the first three months of 2001, compared with 7.9 million in the record-breaking Christmas quarter of last year.
"The latest quarter reflects the slowdown in customer growth post the buoyant Christmas quarter and the initial effects of the adoption of our new commercial policies," chief executive Mr Chris Gent said in a statement.
Vodafone and other mobile companies, under pressure to recoup their huge investments in new licences, are trying to increase the revenue they squeeze from each subscriber instead of chasing customers at any cost.
In Britain, Vodafone is increasing the price of its cheapest pre-pay phones next month, to cut its spending on handset subsidies and to persuade people to move to more profitable monthly contracts.
The biggest growth was in Germany, where its D2 business added 1.56 million customers in the quarter. Its British customer base rose 616,000 - below some analysts' forecasts.
For the financial year ending March, Vodafone added 30.1 million customers, taking its total to 83.4 million.