Vodafone grows subscribers 3%

VODAFONE has retained its position as Ireland’s leading telecommunications network company, in terms of customer numbers, by growing its subscriber base nearly 3% in its last quarter.

Sat, 23 Jul, 2011 - 01:00

Geoff Percival

The 2.7% or 76,000 year-on-year customer increase was measured in Vodafone Ireland’s first quarter to the end of June.

It was mainly driven by a surge in demand for smartphones and the company’s broadband offering.

In its latest interim management statement, Vodafone Ireland said more than 530,000 smartphones are now linked to its network.

“This sustained growth has been driven by Vodafone’s ‘Home of the Smartphone’ strategy to deliver the best customer experience by offering the best devices and great care on the best network,” the company said.

The quarter saw healthy increases in voice calls, text messaging and minutes of use among Vodafone’s Irish customer base.

Average revenue per user was also up nearly 2% on the previous quarter.

Total voice calls rose 4.6% year-on-year; minutes of use per customer were up 1.9% quarter-on-quarter and Vodafone Ireland customers sent 15% more text messages in the three-month period than during the same time last year.

The company said it also reinforced its position as the leading total communications provider for business and public-sector organisations during the period.

On a group-wide basis, Vodafone said that first-quarter group revenue was up 2.3% on a year-on-year footing to £11.7 billion (€13.3bn).

The group’s net debt levels were reduced to just over £23bn and management is upbeat for the coming year.

“We’ve made a good start to the year, reporting robust results despite challenging macro-economic conditions across southern European economies and the impact of cuts to mobile termination rates,” group chief executive Vittorio Colao said.

“Revenue from our key focus areas of data, enterprise and emerging markets continues to grow strongly.

“With our broad geographical mix and improving market positions, we’re well placed for the rest of the financial year,” he added.