O2 Ireland customer base reaches record levels

THE Irish division of mobile communications provider, O2 saw its customer numbers reach record levels during the second quarter of this year, but saw its revenues for the same period fall.

O2 Ireland’s service revenue for the three months to the end of June amounted to €225 million — a 4.9% decline on the same period last year, which was mainly prompted by the company’s price reduction programmes.

The company’s ARPU (average revenue per user) was down to €43.2, from €43.4 in the first three months of this year. ARPU for post-pay (bill-pay) customers was down from €75.5 to €73.8 on a rolling quarter-by-quarter basis, but the figure was up marginally from €26.7 to €26.9 for pre-pay (top-up) customers.

On a more positive note, O2’s Irish customer base rose 3.4% on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter, to 1.69 million people — its highest level to date. Some 24,620 customers were added during the three month period in question.

“Despite the increase in overall customer numbers, blended ARPU has fallen, mainly due to the extra value our customers are receiving from our O2 Experience and O2 Clear offers. In terms of data however, the continued success of our mobile broadband product, with more than 60,000 customers to date, and the launch of iPhone has resulted in significant growth in non-SMS data revenues,” said O2 Ireland chief financial officer Paul Whelan.

The average monthly minutes of use, among customers, rose by 0.3% against the same quarter last year, and rose by more than 4% in the first quarter of this year. It said its broadband offering “continues to exceed expectations“, with customer numbers standing at more than 60,000 people.

O2 recently announced the winning of the naming rights contract for the redeveloped Point Theatre in Dublin. The 13,000 seat venue, to be called The O2, is due to open in December.