MOBILE OPERATOR O2 Ireland has reported a small rise in customers in the third quarter, but experienced a year-on-year fall in revenue of more than 9 per cent.
O2, the largest operator in the post-pay mobile market in Ireland, had a customer base of 1.717 million at the end of September, up from 1.713 million on the same period last year.
The company said it gained an additional 13,761 post-pay customers during the third quarter, but that its pre-pay subscriber numbers had fallen by 12,945.
Revenue at the company for the third quarter was €213 million, up from €211 million in the second quarter, but down by about 9.1 per cent on the same period in 2008.
The monthly average revenue per user from mobile customers in the quarter fell by 8.7 per cent year-on-year, from €43.71 to €39.90, but increased slightly from the second quarter.
Paul Whelan, chief financial officer at Telefónica O2 Ireland, said O2 had delivered a solid performance in a tougher economic climate that continues to affect trading conditions.
About 783 million text messages were sent by O2 customers during the third quarter, up by 28.6 per cent on the same period a year earlier. The average monthly minutes used by customers decreased marginally from 228 to 226. O2 said data revenue as a percentage of overall service revenue increased year-on-year.
The company said non-SMS data revenues accounted for 10.4 per cent of turnover in the third quarter, up from 7.3 per cent in the same period last year.
Key drivers of this growth were mobile broadband, where O2 now has more than 125,000 customers, and the iPhone.
