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LONDON  - Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator, said organic service revenue returned to growth in its third quarter, with a rise of 0.4% soundly beating analysts' expectations for a fall of 0.1%.

Chief Executive Nick Read said there was momentum across the business, including in its largest market Germany.

"Our good trading performance underscores our confidence in the outlook for the full year," he said on Wednesday.

The company reiterated its guidance for adjusted earnings for the year to end-March of 14.4 billion to 14.6 billion euros, compared to 14.5 billion for the previous year, and to generate at least 5 billion euros in free cash flow.

Read said the listing of the group's new towers infrastructure company Vantage Towers was firmly on track for early this year.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton and James Davey)