30,000 join Vodafone in three months
The mobile giant said its Irish subscriber base now stands at almost 2 million, making it the largest mobile operator in the country.
Irish users continue to pay the highest charges in the Vodafone group. The annual average revenue per user in Ireland for pre-paid customers was €379 a year. This compares to €115 a year in Germany and €174 in Britain. Vodafone’s post-pay customers forked out an average of €1,199 in Ireland compared to €479 in Germany and €794 a year in Britain.
Vodafone said a third of new subscribers had signed up for its third generation video mobile phones. Chief executive Arun Sarin said the 3G drive was building momentum and over one million more devices were registered for 3G across its markets in the quarter. The firm was the first to launch 3G services here and said sales exceeded expectations.
But, its dominance of the 3G market will end later today with the launch of ‘3’. The firm, a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, will reveal the details of its plans for the Irish market.
‘3’ secured one of the third generation licences some years ago and has been building up its network since. Its phones will offer customers not only video calls, but high-speed internet access, music clips, football highlights and shopping.
The firm initially plans to sell its phones on the internet and through third party retailers, but may eventually have a high street presence.
When 3 launched in Britain a couple of years ago, its prices were much cheaper than its rivals.
O2 has yet to say when it will launch its third generation services. And Eircom yesterday signalled that it is still interested in 3G. Meteor, acquired by Eircom yesterday, could still snap up the remaining licence from telecoms regulator ComReg. It would cost Eircom around €110m to buy the licence and roll out a 3G network.
