Vodafone's Irish operations, the former Eircell mobile telephone firm, contributed to the rise in group operating margins in the year to end-March, according to the chief executive of Vodafone Ireland, Mr Paul Donovan.
Profit figures for the Irish operations are not disclosed by the group which only breaks out the profits of larger business units. Vodafone Ireland, which expects to hear the result of its bid for an Irish 3G licence on June 26th, has performed strongly since the operation was acquired by the group 10 months ago, Mr Donovan has said.
"The group is very pleased with the performance of our unit," he said, adding that the bid for the 3G licence was a measure of the group's confidence in the Irish market.
Reporting turnover of £477 million sterling (€750 million) for the 10 months to end-March, Mr Donovan declined to disclose the extent of the increase on the corresponding period of the previous year. Vodafone's Irish customer base has increased by 10 per cent to 1,704,000 over the 10-month period, he commented.
Following the implementation of a recruitment freeze at the time of the acquisition and tight cost management, Mr Donovan said he expected Vodafone Ireland's headcount of 1,600 to remain stable.
After strong growth in the mobile market over the last three years, the focus was now on the quality of customers and in increasing average revenue per user, he said.
