Seventy per cent of the Republic's population now has a mobile phone, according to new figures released yesterday. The data also show there has been a general levelling off of activity in the telecoms sector.
The data, released by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation shows revenues for the sector are now £2.46 billion (€3.12 billion), down 1 per cent on the previous quarter. The latest data covers the period April to June.
A spokeswoman for the regulator said last night that the fall-off in revenue was a combination of a decrease in prices and a general levelling off in the sector. The 70 per cent mobile phone users figure is up 22 per cent on this time last year. However, the figure is down slightly from 73 per cent in the last quarter. This is because the method of classifying inactive accounts have changed.
Meanwhile, mobile operator Meteor said it had 35,000 customers after six months of trading and claimed it was still on target to reach 100,000 customers at the end of one year.