MOBILE phone operator Vodafone saw profits soar to £10bn as it added 13.7 million customers worldwide.

The company also saw its bottom line loss for the year to March 31 fall from £6.21bn to £5.05bn.

Accounting charges of £15.2bn, in relation to acquisitions made in recent years, caused the loss.

Sales increased by ten per cent last year to £33.6bn.

Chief executive Arun Sarin, who took over from long-time boss Sir Christopher Gent last year, described the results as a strong operational performance.

He pledged to return £3bn to shareholders on top of a previous £1bn share buyback programme and £1.4bn offered yesterday following a 20 per cent rise in the company's final dividend to 1.078p per share. The latest share buyback comes after Vodafone missed out in the £21.5bn race earlier this year to buy US operator AT&T Wireless.

As well as strong customer growth, Vodafone said escalating take-up of data services had driven growth in revenues. The improvement in data revenues follows growth in demand for Vodafone live!, the company's messaging and multi-media content product.

The service is now available in 16 countries and was enhanced in some countries to include third generation technology earlier this month.

In the UK, where full commercial 3G services have not yet been launched, Vodafone said turnover increased 18 per cent to £4.74bn with customer numbers up by six per cent to 14.1 million.