Vodafone: British mobile giant

Vodafone is the world's second-largest mobile phone operator in terms of customers and revenue after China Mobile, reported the dpa. Last year, the company, based in Newbury, Britain, earned 429 million pounds (668 million dollars) on revenue of 44.5 billion pounds from its more than 400 million customers worldwide. Besides the domestic market, where it has more than 90,000 employees, Vodafone is particularly strong in Germany and the US. Since its spectacular takeover of Germany's Mannesmann in 2000, Vodafone has been locked in combat with Deutsche Telekom for mobile market leadership. In the US, Vodafone holds a stake of 45 per cent in the highly profitable mobile market leader Verizon Wireless.