Telefónica O2 Ireland has reported a 5.6 per cent drop in service revenues to €210 million for the first three months of the year compared with first quarter in 2008.
Customer numbers rose 3 per cent over the period to 1.71 million, but have declined compared to the fourth quarter total of 1.72 million.
Monthly blended average revenue per user (arpu) declined 9.3 per cent to €39.4, compared to €43.35 during the first quarter of last year. Compared with the preceding quarter arpu has fallen 7.7 per cent from €42.60.
Monthly average arpu for billed customers for the quarter was €64.50, down from €69.20 on the previous quarter.
Average revenues for pay-as-you go customers dripped 9.3 per cent to €24.20 compared with the previous three-month period.
Contributing to the fall in customer revenues was a decline from 243 to 224 in the average number of minutes per month customers spent using their phones.
Paul Whelan, chief financial officer Telefónica O2 Ireland, said the trading environment in the first quarter had been very difficult.
The company said data revenues continued to grow as a percentage of overall service revenues during the quarter, driven by non-SMS revenues growth and now accounted for 10.3 per cent of the total.
The company said that it had 105,305 mobile broadband customers at the end of March, up from 98,000 at the end of the fourth quarter.
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