New Delhi, July 22 (IANS): Vodafone Global on Friday said it will continue with its preparation to launch its initial public offer (IPO) in India.

"Preparations continue for a potential IPO of Vodafone India," said a company statement announcing its quarterly result.

The data revenue growth of the company suffered in the quarter, the company said.

"Data browsing revenue growth of 22.3 per cent slowed from the pace of prior quarters, reflecting lower customer growth. Our active data customer base increased to 69.7 million customers from 66.8 million one year ago.

"The 3G and 4G customer base grew to 32.3 million, up 46 per cent, and smartphone penetration in our four biggest urban areas is now 54 per cent. Voice revenues returned to growth as competition eased, despite lower average minutes of use per customer,” it said.

Total mobile customers of the company in the quarter increased 1.4 million giving a closing customer base of 199.4 million. 

"We added 3,300 new 3G sites in the quarter, taking the total to 59,000 and our population coverage to 96 per cent of target urban areas. We have 9,700 4G sites with coverage of 45 per cent of our data revenues across five key circles. We expect 4G coverage to increase to over 60 per cent of our data revenues by year-end, ahead of the upcoming spectrum auction,” the statement added.