Europe : It was an exciting night for Vodafone UK at the Mobile Retailer Awards, 26th May 2005. Vodafone came away with three awards, the largest number given to any network operator at this year's ceremony.

Vodafone UK scooped the Business Contract of the Year for its Sharetime tariff. The tariff, which offers inclusive calls between company mobile on the same price plan and discounts on international calls, impressed the judging panel.

Feedback from the judges included: "Vodafone's Sharetime tariff completely changed the market and unseated the previous champ with a new approach to tariffs that business people could easily comprehend," and, "People are actually buying themselves out of Orange and O2 tariffs just to sign up."

Vodafone UK was also awarded National Retailer of the Year in recognition of "its clear retail proposition, its highly motivated staff, its excellent standards in store operations, investment in systems and ongoing research and performance benchmarking." In particular judges singled out Vodafone's "clear focus on serving the customer" and its success "for getting the phone in people's hands."

Finally, Louise Billany, a team member at Vodafone's Newcastle Metro Experience store, was awarded Shop Idol, for her quiet charm and listening ear. Louise beat "every challenger in a competition that was thrown open to all comers, proving herself over two rounds of knockout mystery shopping and a nerve jangling encounter with [the] judging panel in the national final."

Martin Darby, Head of Retail at Vodafone UK comments: "These awards recognise the strenuous efforts we have made to focus entirely on the needs of our customers, particularly through the dedication of our staff. It clearly demonstrates that Vodafone is serious about delivering the best service to our customers, business or consumer - wherever they choose to shop."

Vodafone UK has 15.3 million customers and is part of the world's largest mobile community offering a wide range of voice and data communications. On the 1st January 1985, the first mobile phone call was made by Ernie Wise on the Vodafone network. Since then, Vodafone was the first to introduce SMS in 1994 and to make a 3G voice call in July 2001. Vodafone UK was the world's first mobile operator to introduce international roaming, now connecting customers with standard roaming agreements in 174 countries, GPRS roaming in 53 countries and 250 cities worldwide using 3G.

Following the launch of Vodafone UK's 3G/GPRS Mobile Connect data card in April 2004, the company launched Vodafone live! with 3G in November 2004 offering services such as video-calling and music downloads. Vodafone's 3G UK population coverage currently stands at 65 per cent and the network is being continually expanded.