LONDON: Mobile operator Vodafone reported a better-than-expected 3.3% rise in first-quarter service revenue on Friday, including a one-off gain of around 1.0 percentage point following COVID-19 disruption last year.

Chief Executive Nick Read said the company was back to service revenue growth in Europe as well as Africa.

"This growth was broad-based within both Consumer and Business segments, with the vast majority of our markets contributing," he said.

Vodafone edges back into annual profit

Analysts on average expected a rise of 1.4%.

Vodafone said it maintained momentum in its biggest market Germany, with growth accelerating to 1.4% against 1.2% in Q4, while both Britain and Spain returned to quarter-on-quarter growth as COVID-19 restrictions eased.

Continued price competition in Italy resulted in a 3.6% decline in service revenue against a 7.8% decline in the previous quarter.

Vodafone said it was on track to deliver its full-year targets of 15.0-15.4 billion euros in adjusted earnings and adjusted free cash flow of at least 5.2 billion euros.