O2 customer numbers down as firm maintains top spot in bill pay sector

O2 IRELAND’S total customer numbers dipped slightly, last year, but the company maintained its market leading position in the lucrative post-pay/bill pay sector.

The mobile communications company – which is ultimately owned by Spanish telco, Telefonica – formally overtook Vodafone Ireland in terms of post-pay market share here during the second quarter of last year.

Latest figures from the company, covering the fourth quarter and full year, showed that 15,400 new post-pay customers signed up to O2 in the last three months of the year – bringing its total bill-pay customer base to 691,765. At the same time, its pre-pay/top-up customer base fell by 18,590. Overall, O2’s Irish subscriber base amounted to 1.714 million as of the end of 2009. This was down from 1.717m at the end of the third quarter last year and – more significantly – down from a full-year figure of 1.728m as of the end of 2008.

The company’s chief financial officer, Paul Whelan, said that development has been made on the back of rising popularity in O2’s data services like mobile broadband and its devices such as its iPhone distribution licence.

“Trading conditions continue to be challenging, with limited signs of any underlying improvement at this early stage in 2010. Customers also continue to change how they use our services, with many optimising their usage either by staying within their bundle allowance or substituting text messaging for voice services,” he added.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the final quarter of last year was €39.36 – down from €39.90 in the previous quarter and down from €42.55 for the same quarter last year.