Vodafone put Kane on board

MOBILE phone operator Vodafone yesterday appointed former Eircom chief executive Alfie Kane to its board of directors.

Mr Kane was head of Eircom at the time it sold its mobile arm to Vodafone.

Vodafone has around 440,000 Irish shareholders, who received their shares when Eircell was sold to Vodafone in May 2001.

When the former State monopoly operator was sold to a private consortium two years ago, Mr Kane walked away with €3.8m million in payments and pension contributions.

The company has also appointed former Campus and Stadium Ireland Development chairman Paddy Teahon to the board. Mr Teahon, former secretary-general at the Department of the Taoiseach, left CSID after issues were raised concerning the awarding of a contract to build and manage the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

Vodafone Ireland chief executive Paul Donovan said both men would make “considerable attributions” to the company.

The company said yesterday that its Irish offshoot earned €195m in profits from its 1.8m customers in the six months to end September, up from €138m in 2002 when it has just over 1.7m customers.

Turnover for the six months was up from €431m to €543m. Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased for pre-paid and post-pay customers. ARPU for billed subscribers was up to €1,107 and to €576 for pre-paid customers.

Vodafone’s profits come a day after rival O2 Ireland reported earnings of €147m for its half year.

Last month, the operators were hauled before the Oireachtas Communications Committee investigating mobile phone prices.

The two companies have strenuously denied overcharging consumers and say that bills here are higher because Irish consumers use their phones more.

Mr Donovan said: “If you compare our minutes of use they are 50% more than other companies in the Vodafone group.”

He added that Vodafone would not be launching any immediate price cuts following O2’s reductions on Monday.

“O2 made some adjustments to their price plans, focusing mainly on pre-pay and off-peak and weekend calling and we have to believe that is a direct results of them failing to get any real traction in the marketplace.”

Vodafone raised its interim dividend by 20% and set aside £2.5bn to buy back shares as group turnover rose by 13% to £16.9bn with profits before one-off items ahead 26% at £5.4bn.

However, at the bottom line, losses for the period were £4.3bn because of the amortisation of goodwill relating to acquisitions.

Shares in Vodafone closed up nearly 6% yesterday on the London Stock Exchange at 133p.