Vodafone records slip in service revenues to €949m

Vodafone Ireland, the largest mobile operator in the State, reported a slight dip in service revenues last year, slipping 0.2 per cent to €949 million.

However, excluding the impact of mobile termination rates (MTR), service revenues were up 1.3 per cent for the 12 months to the end of March, the company said.

Fourth-quarter service revenues rose 4.3 per cent to €244 million from €235 million. In the year to the end of March, Vodafone Ireland’s number of broadband customers rose by 2 per cent to 265,000.

4G network

In the same period, its mobile customer base rose by just 0.3 per cent but with a 51,000 gain in contract subscribers. The company said it had seen a significant increase in the number of customers using its 4G network.

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Some 1.16 million customer devices are now 4G enabled, out of a total of 1.95 million mobile customers. In addition, the number of 4G plans rose 8.1 per cent over the past year while mobile data usage jumped by 50.6 per cent.

"It has been another strong year of operational and strategic progress for Vodafone Ireland. In particular, we've made considerable advancements in our investment programme, particularly across services and technology, which has seen us maintain our position as Ireland's preferred telecommunications provider," Vodafone Ireland chief executive Anne O'Leary said.

Chief executive

Shares in its parent company dropped by as much as 4.8 per cent on Wednesday after it was announced that finance director Nick Read will take over as chief executive from Vittorio Colao in October.

Mr Colao is seen as having transformed the group during his time. He took Vodafone out of the US with a $130 billion (€109 billion) exit from a joint venture with Verizon, agreed to merge its operations in India with Idea Cellular, and just last week the company struck an €18.4 billion deal to buy Liberty Global's cable TV and broadband networks in Germany and eastern Europe.

The announcement came as the company reported a 1.4 per cent rise in organic service revenue for its fourth quarter, beating analyst forecasts of a 1.1 per cent rise.