Itsmobile, the company that facilitates pay-and-display parking by mobile phone in Dublin has won a similar contract in Edinburgh. However, the firm said yesterday that Dubliners have been slow to adopt the service, called mPARK

Market penetration in Dublin's is as low as 5 per cent, the company said. So far only business areas around Merrion and Fitzwilliam squares are registering a substantial number of users. Other meters in the city-centre yellow-ticketing zone show motorists are yet to utilise the wireless technology.

According to Mr Paul McCartney, parking information officer at Dublin City Council, Itsmobile has a contract with DCC to maintain the service until the end of the year when market penetration figures will be reviewed and a decision will be made to either retain or discontinue the service director of Itsmobile, Mr Donal McGuinness, said the reason for the low take-up rate in Dublin was due to the limited marketing of the service.

"We've only been operating this system since January 15th, so a 5 per cent penetration rate is acceptable. Obviously, it would have been better if it was a little higher but I don't think that enough people know about the service," he said. A series of aggressive marketing campaigns will be launched over the next couple of weeks to increase public awareness of mPARK, including stickers on the front of the meters, newspaper advertisements and direct marketing tactics.

The company aims to have market penetration up to 25 per cent by the end of next year.

Mr McGuiness maintains mPARK will prove far more popular once public awareness of the product is increased. He claims the 98 per cent repeat user rate of the wireless technology is a clear indication mPark is here to stay.

Itsmobile said its core focus was on the corporate sector. "This isn't the sort of service that someone would use if they're parking their car on a Saturday to do some shopping. But it is of interest to business people who are travelling around the city centre all day," Mr McGuinness said.

Vodafone and O2 are also expected to begin targeting corporate customers to beef up the call revenue they receive from the service.