O2 loses 18,000 clients in a year

O2 IRELAND’s customer base dipped by about 18,000 last year, although its post pay/billed customer numbers increased by nearly 7,000.

The company — which is ultimately owned by Spanish communications giant, Telefonica — tallied its total customer base at just more than 1.69 million as of the end of December, down from just more than 1.71 million at the end of the previous year.

According to O2 Ireland’s chief financial officer, Paul Whelan: “2010 was a very difficult year for the telecommunications industry, with the Irish economy still struggling to recover. Competition in the sector also increased significantly. In response to the low levels of consumer and business confidence throughout the year, we continued to offer better value for money across our products and services. So, while our customers used more of our services — with minutes of usage, text messages sent and data usage all increasing — they spent less.”