O2 service revenue up by 12.8%

MOBILE phone giant O2’s latest accounts show that like Vodafone its Irish customers deliver more revenue per head than any other of the company’s European users.

O2’s Irish operations, formerly Esat, performed well for the firm , which has 100%-owned mobile phone networks in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland.

O2 service revenue in Ireland in the first half grew by 12.8% year-on-year to 321 million, driven by the increase in customer numbers.

Overall, mmO2 Plc beat forecasts with a jump in first-half core earnings, as Europe’s fifth-largest mobile phone group saw its comparatively small German unit turn an underlying profit for the first time. The numbers follow stronger-than-expected earnings from Vodafone Group Plc a week ago.