Customer base at O2 Ireland up 4%

Mobile phone operator O2 Ireland grew its customer numbers to just under 1.6 million at the end of March, as an increase in bill-paying customers offset a decline in pre-pay phone users.

The total customer base was up 4 per cent on the same period a year earlier, boosted by the addition of 10,000 bill-pay users, O2 Ireland said yesterday. However, pre-pay customers, which at 1.1 million account for just under three-quarters of the operator's total customer base, declined by 19,000. The group continues to lag behind rival Vodafone.

Paul Whelan, the company's chief financial officer, attributed the decline to a slowdown following the Christmas period. He said the group had seen considerable growth in its pre-pay customer base in the previous quarters and as a result, was pleased with this performance in the light of the high levels of competition in the market.

Service revenue in the three-month period was up 6.9 per cent on the same period a year earlier, according to the figures. Meanwhile, average revenue per user (ARPU) was up 1.5 per cent on the prior period at €552. On a consecutive quarterly basis, this measurement was little changed.

The figures released yesterday are the first for O2 Ireland, a former subsidiary of BT, since it was taken over by Spanish group Telefonica. Addressing journalists in the UK yesterday, chief executive Peter Erskine said O2 was looking into ways to expand into the fixed-line arena.

Parent company Telefonica already runs fixed-line operations in Germany and the Czech Republic. Still, Mr Whelan said that while this was something the group was looking to do, it would not be competing with current fixed-line operators.