Vodafone says pressures in India and UK to weigh on earnings

Vodafone, the world's second biggest mobile phone group, said it would meet the "lower end" of its earnings guidance for the full year as its battles intensifying competition in India and Britain.

India, where new entrant Jio has shaken up the market, overshadowed continued growth in Europe, with the exception of its home British market. It reported a 1.7 percent rise in organic service revenue for its third quarter.

"We anticipate intense competitive pressure in India in the fourth quarter and are taking a series of commercial actions, including the extension of 4G services to 17 leading circles," the company said on Thursday.

The company confirmed on Monday it was in talks to merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular in an all-share deal to create a market leader better able to take on new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Analysts were expecting organic service revenue excluding the Netherlands to grow 1.6 percent, based on 13 forecasts.