Smartphones and broadband behind Vodafone customer increase

SMARTPHONES AND mobile broadband were behind an increase in customer numbers in the last quarter at mobile operator Vodafone Ireland.

At the end of the quarter finishing December 31st, 2010, Vodafone Ireland’s telecoms business had about 2.2 million subscribers. Including its fixed line and DSL business, that figure rose to 2.4 million. This compares to 2.18 million mobile customers at the end of the last quarter, and 2.38 million subscribers across mobile, fixed line and DSL.

The company said almost half of all devices it sold in December were smartphones, indicating a continuing appetite for devices such as Apple’s iPhone and Google-based Android handsets.

Minutes of use per customer grew 5 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, reaching 273 minutes. The poor weather also had an impact on data usage, as a greater number of people worked from home during December, partly driving a rise of 5 per cent for the quarter.

However, average blended monthly revenue per user fell by 6.9 per cent to € 34.90.

The company has unveiled a new device designed to boost 3G signal indoors. The Sure Signal device uses fixed-line broadband to create a 3G signal for its network if there is none available, or to boost a weak signal.

The device, which will go on sale in about two weeks, will cost less than € 100.

Earlier this week, the company said its long-serving strategy director, Gerry Fahy, would step down from his role in April. Mr Fahy (52) has been a senior member of the Vodafone Ireland management team for the past 10 years, following the company’s acquisition from Eircom as Eircell and subsequent rebranding.

On a group basis, strong demand in India and improving conditions in Europe helped Vodafone to post higher third-quarter service revenues and nudge up its profit forecast for the year.

The firm said it now expected adjusted operating profit for the year to end-March to be towards the upper end of its previously stated £11.8 billion to £12.2 billion range. The rest of the outlook was unchanged. The improved outlook followed solid trading in the third quarter, with strong growth in India and Turkey and improvements in Britain, Germany and South Africa.

Trading stabilised in Italy but remained challenging in Spain, where Vodafone has been hurt by the economic downturn and the loss of migrant construction workers.

The United States, where Vodafone has a joint venture with partner Verizon, enjoyed strong customer demand.

The improved performance boosted group service revenue 2.5 per cent to £11 billion, compared with a Reuters poll forecasting £10.9 billion.

Service revenue at the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific division was up 9.3 per cent on an organic basis, while European service revenue was up 0.2 per cent.

The group posted total revenues up 3.5 per cent organically to £11.89 billion. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)