O2 set to announce jobs boost as part of investment strategy

TELEPHONE operator O2 is to announce a major jobs boost as part of a significant investment in Ireland.

It is expected that O2 will shortly start recruiting around 150 people at its Dublin headquarters.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will make the announcement at O2 headquarters in Dublin this morning. The investment is in conjunction with IDA Ireland.

O2 would not reveal any details about the investment yesterday but said the investment, which is in conjunction with IDA Ireland, is “sizeable”.

The telephone operator is expected to reveal details of its investment plans for Ireland over the coming year. It said it plans to continue to invest in its network infrastructure in Ireland and, as a result of the upgrade of its mobile broadband service.

It will be offering higher speed internet access this summer in city locations. O2 currently has more than 142,000 mobile broadband customers on its network.

O2 already employs around 1,300 people in Ireland.

The company began life as Esat Digifone in Ireland in 1996 and in 2000 British Telecom acquired Esat Digifone and subsequently demerged its wireless division – called mmO2 in 2001.

In 2002, mmO2 rebranded as the O2 group.

It was then acquired by Spanish headquartered Telefónica in March 2006.

O2 saw its Irish customer base fall slightly in the year to the end of March as service revenue dropped 6% to €196 million.

O2’s total customer base at the end of March was 1.706 million, down from 1.710 million in the same period last year.

The average revenue per user for the quarter was €37.37, down from €39.34 for the same period last year.