Vodafone boom in Europe

Vodafone AirTouch said Wednesday it added a record 6.6 million mobile phone customers in the second quarter as booming sales at Mannesmann's mobile units made up for slowing growth in Britain. Highlighting the importance of the Mannesmann takeover,the world's largest mobile phone operator reported its strongest growth at D2 in Germany and Omnitel in Italy. The two companies, which Vodafone took control of through its 180 billion euro ($172.1 billion) takeover of Mannesmann, added 2.68 million and 994,000 customers, respectively, in the last three months, helping make continental Europe Vodafone's fastest growing division.