Vodafone Launching Television and Broadband Services 'Next Spring'

British telecommunications firm Vodafone has announced its intentions to enter the television and broadband market in the UK as it looks to snap up some of the market share from Sky and BT.

The firm said that it would use its business fibre network as well as optimising BT's infrastructure to deliver the service to its customers.

Group chief executive Vittorio Colao unveiled the plans, but added that pricing on a TV and broadband service has yet to be decided. Colao said Vodafone will enter the fray next spring (i.e. Q2 2015).

Colao told reporters of the company's intention upon unveiling Vodafone's half year results.

Profit before tax rose by 5.5% to reach £5.9bn for the six months leading to 30 September which allowed it to up its full year core earnings forecast to somewhere between £11.6bn - £11.9bn (€14.8bn - €15.2bn) whereas it previously stood at £11.4bn - 11.9bn.

Vodafone had pumped £19bn into 'Project Spring' – an upgrade to bring better service to its customers – and Colao says that it is well underway and consumers are beginning to see the benefits.

"We have made encouraging progress during the quarter. There is growing evidence of stabilisation in a number of our European markets, supported by improvements in our commercial execution and very strong demand for data," he said.

"Our two year, £19bn investment programme is well underway, and customers are beginning to see the benefits: in wider 3G and 4G data coverage, improved voice quality and reliability, and increased access to next generation fixed line services.

"Today in Europe, only 6% of our customers are using 4G. In the next 18 months, we will reach 90% 4G coverage in Europe, giving us a great opportunity to increase penetration, stimulate data usage and grow customer spend."

Vodafone shares jumped by more than 6% to reach £222.00 in early morning trading on the back of a strong set of results and its entrance into the television market.