Vodafone Group Plc has soared ahead of rival Cellnet Mobile Communications Ltd in the UK cellular subscriber stakes, with Vodafone subscribers standing at about 700,000 – and spending more, and Cellnet subscribers at about 535,000, which translates to annual operating profit for the former of UKP255m, for the latter of only UKP115m, underlining the incremental benefit to the bottom line of additional subscribers once the fixed costs are covered: Cellnet is seen to have worked through its bad debt problems at the early part of last year, and fans hope that the company can narrow the subscriber gap with Vodafone in the belief that any additional business will be almost pure profit; since the two operate on a level playing field, the disparity in performance raises concerns that despite seven or eight years in the private sector, there are still too many vestiges of bureaucratic state monopoly baggage at British Telecommunications Plc – compounded by the relative success of that other former state-owned telecommunications company Cable & Wireless Plc.
