O2 sees user base slip slightly

O2 Ireland’s total customer base dipped from 1.7m to 1.65m people last year, according to figures from the mobile communications provider.

Customer numbers slipped from 1.68m people in the third quarter of the year and the final three months of the year also saw a €1 quarter-by-quarter dip in average revenues per user to €32.46.

“The trading environment remained very difficult in the fourth quarter of 2011, with our customers continuing to optimise their monthly spend and avail of increased value for money products and services from us,” Telefonica Ireland chief Paul Whelan said.

The figures contain a number of positives for the international telephone company’s Irish division.

Further momentum was seen in its post-pay/billpay customer base, with 6,000 new customers added in the final quarter and 23,000 added in the year as a whole.

Data revenue grew by 6% for the year — driven by a 16.3% rise in non-text messaging revenue — and the company’s joint venture with Tesco, Tesco Mobile, increased customer numbers from 115,000 to 141,000 in the final three months of the year.

O2 Ireland’s financial services project — the pre-paid O2 money card — also increased business, with more than 100,000 people having signed up to the service one year after its launch.

Smartphone usage also increased among O2 customers, and accounted for two thirds of all post-pay phones sold in the company’s store network.

The company also said it has continued to invest significantly in its network over the course of the past 12 months. O2 said itexpanded its high-speed broadband network nationwide — a further 37 towns around Ireland benefiting from an upgrade during the final three months of 2011.