ComReg report confirms high cost of mobiles

Irish mobile phone users paid €15 more a month for their services than their European counterparts during the first three months of the year, according to the communications regulator's (ComReg) latest report.

ComReg's quarterly report, published yesterday, shows the State's three mobile networks earned an average monthly revenue per user of €45 in the Republic during the first quarter of the year. The EU average for the same period was €30.

ComReg, chaired by Ms Etain Doyle, did not comment directly on the gap between Ireland and Europe. A spokesman said that was a matter for the network operators.

However, industry sources pointed out last night that EU countries had greater competition than the Irish market.

The report shows that two operators, O2 and Vodafone, held 96 per cent of the market during the period. Meteor had just 4 per cent.

Subscriber numbers increased to 3.1 million, or 80 per cent of the population. This means that the networks earned almost €140 million a month in revenues from their customers.

ComReg's figures also show that text messages accounted for almost €22 million a-month of the total.

The State's 3.1 million mobile subscribers sent an average of 78 text messages to each other every month. The 24 million-plus messages, charged at nine cents each, earned a total of €21.76 million a month for the networks.

The volume of text messages for the full quarter was 728 million. This was an increase of 10 per cent on the final three months of 2002, and a 30 per cent jump on the same time last year.

In the first three months of the year, the sector's total revenues were up 8 per cent to €3.46 billion. The industry includes mobile and fixed line telecoms, internet and cable and digital television.

Total fixed line revenue for the period was €516 million. Eircom, the biggest player, held almost 80 per cent of the market during the period. Independent operators, (also known as other local operators or "OLOs") had 21 per cent, a slight increase on the previous quarter.

The report also contained the results of two separate independent studies carried out for ComReg.

A TNS/MRBI survey of 400 companies in April found that 44 per cent of them intended to increase their broadband requirements over the next year.

An Amarach Consulting survey of 1,000 adults (aged 15 to 74) in May found 38 per cent of them were regular internet users, and that the same percentage had recently purchased goods or services via the internet.

ComReg's report says that according to the latest EU Commission figures, Ireland had more than 50 per cent internet penetration in November last year, putting it fourth in Europe.

Subscribers to digital television increased by 36 per cent in the quarter to 353,000.