Vodafone Ireland, the largest mobile operator in the State, has blamed a 2 per cent fall in revenues – to below €966 million – on regulatory cuts to the fees mobile operators pay each other for connecting calls to their respective networks.
Vodafone says the cuts to mobile termination rates (MTR) cost it more than €19 million, and that underlying revenues were flat. Its main rival, Hong Kong-owned Three Ireland, also flagged the effect of MTR cuts in its accounts.
Vodafone, which has 1.95 million mobile subscribers and a total base of 2.3 million including broadband and fixed-line users, made a net loss for the year of €22.7 million, according to newly-filed accounts for the year to the end of March.
Its losses deepened from €11.4 million the previous year. However, Vodafone attributed this to increased levels of investment in its network infrastructure, as well as its share of build-out costs for Siro, its fibre joint venture with ESB.
Vodafone’s bottom line performance was hampered after it swallowed €14.9 million of Siro’s losses, while in May it also announced it would invest €120 million in an upgrade of its IT systems.
The group has previously committed to a €500 million capital investment plan over three years to 2019.
Unpaid phone bills
The accounts reveal Vodafone wrote off about €13 million in unpaid phone bills from its mobile customers.
Staff numbers at the group, which is headquartered in Leopardstown in south Dublin, rose by more than 50 to 1,044. The average salary at the group, the accounts reveal, is more than €74,000.
The directors’ report says during the year Vodafone increased its number of fixed and mobile customers on contracts by 4.9 per cent, or 48,800. The number of fixed-line broadband subscribers rose by 20,800, up 6.8 per cent.
The report also reveals that the number of customers using 4G enabled smartphones rose sharply by 41 per cent to more than 1.2 million.
“Vodafone Ireland delivered another positive performance,” said its chief executive, Anne O’Leary.
‘Future proof’
She said the group was investing to “future proof” the business and said the €500 million investment announced last year was reflected in the growth in its customer numbers.
“Our partnership with the ESB, through Siro, is firmly on course to ultimately connect 500,000 premises in 50 regional towns. The business will also be announcing some exciting developments in 5G in early 2018,” she added.
