The Irish arm of UK-based mobile giant Vodafone Group ended the first quarter of this year with a total of 2.46 million subscribers, of which 2.2 million were mobile phone users, up 1.7% on the corresponding period of 2011. The Irish telco reported strong demand for smartphones in the year to 31 March 2012, which increased by 59% to account for 37.7% of all users on its networks at that date. By the start of April this year the company counted 1.05 million mobile internet subscribers, up 14% year-on-year. The cellco says it invested EUR120 million (USD153 million) in fiscal 2011/12 in its networks – the single largest CAPEX by any of Ireland’s service providers – and claimed to have the fastest mobile network in the Republic (as measured by Metrico) when compared to its rivals at 55 test locations across the country. However, monthly blended average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped 3.4% y-o-y to EUR31.20 for the quarter ended 31 March, it said.
The group added that in the fixed line segment, it closed out the quarter with a total of 239,600 fixed line telephony and DSL customers, up 10.3% on an annualised basis.