LONDON: Vodafone Group Plc started a fixed-line Internet service for its British home market as the mobile-phone operator seeks to prevent users from switching to bundled offers from competitors such as BT Group Plc.
The Vodafone Connect broadband package provides speeds as high as 76 megabits per second, and the new project will create 400 jobs, Jeroen Hoencamp, head of Vodafone’s U.K. business, told reporters on a conference call.
The service will be offered initially to existing customers in select locations, Vodafone said. The Newbury, England-based company, which acquired fixed-line operator Cable & Wireless Worldwide Plc in 2012, has a fiber-optic network serving 20 million premises and that will increase to 22 million this summer, it said in a statement.
Vodafone, the largest mobile-phone company by customers outside China, has previously built out broadband services in other markets, though it’s resisted offering combined services to consumers in the U.K. before rivals began providing more packages.
