Vittorio Colao indicated he would stick to Vodafone’s focus on emerging markets and remained hopeful of a deal for South Africa’s Vodacom as he begun his tenure at the world’s biggest mobile phone operator.

Speaking at the annual meeting on Tuesday, Mr Colao said he would continue Vodafone’s expansion “with discipline, into new territories wherever we see new opportunities”. He also gave no indication of wanting to sell Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless, its US joint venture with Verizon Communications.