Vodafone has just launched a customer guarantee, but is that, and a billion-dollar network investment, enough to secure its future in Australia?

Vodafone has had a rough trot, with high complaint levels to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in 2010-11 and 375,000 customers leaving it in the first half of last year. Now it is paring back its operational costs, while pushing ahead with upgrades to its network. So far it claims to have 1000 new 850MHz sites live across the country.

It sounds like it’s making all the right moves. Telsyte analyst Chris Coughlan says Vodafone is well placed to provide a quality network experience and its approach is the only option it’s got.

Industry commentator Paul Budde is less convinced. He reckons that if you rebuild the network, there’s no guarantee the customers will return. For a start, can you continue to thrive as a mobile-only provider? He suggests the carrier needs a more progressive strategy, rather than just focusing on being a network provider.

First published on ZDNet