Vodafone's revenue rose nine per cent to £17bn during the six months to 30 September.

Profit rose to £5.2bn, up from a reported loss of £2.9bn in the same period in 2006, although last year the mobile operator's results were severely impacted by a £23bn goodwill write-off associated with its purchase of Mannesmann.

Vodafone had originally acquired the German corporation via a hostile takeover in 2000, at a cost of £101bn.

“These results reflect our continuing focus on the execution of our strategy, " said chief executive Arun Sarin.

"In Europe, we have performed well in competitive markets by driving strong growth in voice usage and data revenue, whilst improving cost efficiency."

Vodafone has performed well over the past year, said John Delaney, principal analyst at Ovum.

“When the Vodafone board announced its current strategy in mid-2006, it contained the main elements needed to fulfill the need for growth. In most respects the company has executed very well on its growth strategy since then," he said.

"Our main reservation is with regard to Vodafone’s stated aim of becoming a ‘total communications provider’, where we believe the scope of its activities in fixed network services have so far fallen short of that grand ambition.

"But fixed services are among the less urgent strategic issues that Vodafone needs to address; on all of the most pressing ones, Vodafone has taken decisive action, and the results are coming through clearly.”