Vodafone’s Irish subsidiary is to spend tens of million of euros in the upgrade of its national mobile network to so-called ‘3.5G’ technology, the Irish Independent reports. The cellco unveiled its plans yesterday in the wake of an announcement that its parent group forecasts better than expected cash flow and profits for the full-year ended 31 March 2010. Shares in Vodafone jumped 3.5% in London on the news.
Despite a difficult economic climate in the Republic, Vodafone Ireland added 26,000 net new mobile subscribers during three months to 31 December 2009, raising its total to just under 2.15 million – the highest among the country’s mobile operators. Vodafone also added 9,000 fixed line customers during the last quarter, bringing its total to 186,000.
Gerry Fahy, Vodafone Ireland’s strategy director, declined to comment on the exact level of investment it intends to commit to its 3.5G, HSPA+ network upgrade. He did say however, that rollout had already begun in Dublin and will commence in Cork shortly. The network will enable users to experience download speeds on their handsets of about 16Mbps.