Vodafone, the UK telecommunications group, looks set to steer clear of the international debt capital markets as a means of raising fresh cash in the near-term future.

Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone, said on Tuesday that while it will cost Vodafone as much as £10bn (€16.6bn) to roll out its third generation (3G) mobile phones, the company does not need to incur any new debt in order to pay for the development.