3G roll-out boosts Vodafone numbers
The launch of 3G services to pre-paid customers boosted Vodafone's Irish subscriber numbers by 29,000, the company said today.
The new customers signed up in the three months to June 30 and were comprised of 26,000 pre-paid and 3,000 post-paid customers.
In the 12 months to the end of June, Vodafone's customer base rose from 1,881,000 to 1,981,000. Blended ARPU measured on a 12-month rolling basis increased to €609 from €591.
Contract customer ARPU increased to €1,199 from €1,150 and prepaid customer ARPU rose to €379 from €364 over the same period. Vodafone Ireland’s monthly MOU (Minutes of Usage) grew by 6%.
Irish customers continue to maintain the highest level of voice usage per customer in Vodafone Group’s controlled mobile businesses, underlying the steady growth in ARPU.
Vodafone UK regained momentum in the quarter with 165,000 net customers added, taking the total base to 15.5 million customers, an increase of 8.9% year on year.
Annual churn increased slightly compared to March, driven in large part by an increase in prepaid churn. Blended annual ARPU reduced to £300 (€432) from £306 (€441) for the year to June compared to the year to March, principally due to the impact of the reduction in incoming call termination rates.
The growth in average customers was substantially offset by the fall in ARPU resulting in service revenue growth of 0.6% for the quarter when compared to the same quarter last year.
Non-voice service revenue increased by 11.9% year on year, including a 50.7% increase in non-messaging data revenue. Vodafone live!, with users now at 3.7 million, and Vodafone Mobile Connect were the drivers behind the growth.
