Vodafone is to enter the Irish fixed-line market by providing telephone services and broadband.
In conjunction with the announcement of its annual results, the country's largest mobile services provider has unveiled a 2mb broadband service of €49 a month.
The company says this will include connection, line rental, local and national landline calls and unlimited calls to three nominated Vodafone numbers. The offer applies regardless of whether there is an existing landline in the property.
Charles Butterworth, Vodafone Ireland ceo, said the offering was not just targeted at existing Eircom customers but would aim to increase overall broadband penetration.
He said the company had 75,000 mobile broadband customers by the end of March, compared with 20,000 during the same period last year.
Over the year to the end of March Vodafone Ireland customers rose by 87,500 in the year to the end of March 2008 to 2.33 million. The purchase of internet services provider Perlico for €80 million added 62,500 customers.
During the period average revenue per user decreased 1.3 per cent to €44.
During the first three months of the year there was a 9.3 per cent rise in total voice minutes to 1.55 billion minutes, compared with 1.42 billion over the same quarter in 2007.