VODAFONE Australia is rapidly shedding customers despite its...

VODAFONE Australia is rapidly shedding customers despite its high-profile campaign to woo them back by heavily investing in its network.
Tens of thousands of customers deserted the telco in the three months to March, according to accounts released by one of its parent companies.

The Vodafone business in Australia is a joint venture between the British Vodafone group and Hutchison Telecommunications Australia.

Figures released by the British company show its customer base in Australia fell by about 64,000 in the March quarter.

Vodafone's figures reveal the joint venture had 7.02 million Australian mobile customers overall at December 31, last year.

The exodus of mobile users leaves the British group, as half owner, with the equivalent of 3.3 million Australian customers.

Industry speculation yesterday was that the joint venture had lost about 120,000 customers this year.

Vodafone said revenue in Australia fell 8.8 per cent in the year to March.

The joint venture company has appointed a new chief executive and signed a deal with rival Optus to share mobile towers, extending its coverage.

Vodafone management said customer numbers fell despite improvements in its network.

"In Australia, revenue declined sharply as our 'network perception' continued to suffer after service issues experienced more than a year ago," management said in a statement.

The "brand recovery was still not evident", Vodafone said.

Only Vodafone's Spanish and Greek units posted heavier falls in service revenue.

The company has argued it needs time to turn the Australian business around.

Earlier this month, Vodafone and Optus forged an alliance to expand mobile phone reach in a deal that saves each company tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure costs.

The rivals agreed to fund the roll-out of 500 mobile phone towers over the next four years and share them.

In March, Vodafone chief Nigel Dews stepped aside for the group's former European chief executive Bill Morrow.

Mr Morrow has said his priority is to fix the troubled network and rebuild customer confidence.

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