Ireland seventh in mobile phone league

The Irish Republic now has the seventh highest percentage of mobile phone users in Europe, according to new figures from the Dublin-based Director of Telecommunications office.

The same returns also indicated that text messaging in Ireland during thefirst three months of this year amounted to one billion - a 70% increase over the same period in 2001- with the average user texting 62 times each month.

The quarterly survey figures made it clear, too, that Ireland is one ofthe most profitable European countries for mobile operators, with Irish customers spending more each month because of higher call cost rates than anywhere else except Switzerland.

The telecom statistics showed that 77% of the people in Ireland now have mobile phones.

Vodafone, which took over the once Irish-owned Eircell operator, has a 57% share of the market, O2, formerly Digifone, have 40% and the newest entrant to the market, Meteor, has just 3%.