Mobile network Vodafone secured higher average revenue per customer in the Republic than in any of the group's 17 other markets in the final three months of 2005, its figures show.

The State's biggest mobile operator published figures showing that its two million-plus Irish customers paid average monthly bills of €50.20 between September and the end of December last. The figure was down on the €51.40 a month average paid by Irish customers in the previous three-month period, and also below the €50.70 a month that they paid during the same period in 2004.

However, it was the highest of the 18 principal territories in which Vodafone operates. The next nearest was Japan, where subscribers paid an average of €42 a month during the same period. The cheapest Vodafone market was Egypt, where customers paid the equivalent of €10.50 a month for their services during the same period.

Customers in the Republic paid considerably higher bills than those in other European countries with well developed mobile markets. In Spain the average monthly bill was €35.30; in Britain it was €34.60; in the Netherlands it was €34.50; in Italy it was €27.70; and in Germany it was €22.90.

Vodafone's group statement yesterday singled out the German, British and Italian markets as being intensely competitive, forcing prices down.

Gerry Fahy, the group's strategy director in the Republic, described the Irish market as "highly competitive". A Vodafone Ireland spokeswoman said that high bills paid by customers in the Republic did not mean that they were being charged more, but that they were spending more on mobile services.

She pointed out that, on average, Vodafone customers in the Republic spent an average of 215 minutes on their mobile phones, up from 210 minutes a month during the September to December period in 2004.

Vodafone's figures show that its Australian customers used their phones for an average of 217 minutes a month, while paying an average of €31.40 a month for services during the same September-December period.

Using a formula for calculation provided by Vodafone, the figures in the group's statement show that the average customer in the Republic paid 23.3 cent a minute, while their Australian counterparts paid the equivalent of just over 14 cent. In both countries, 73 per cent of Vodafone's customers are pre-paid - topping up their credit as they go - while the balance get a monthly bill.

Pre-paid customers on average spend less every month on mobile services than post-paid customers. In the Republic, the former paid €31.60 a month in the final quarter of 2005, while post-paid subscribers received monthly average bills of €99.90.

In Australia, post-paid customers received average bills of €57.70 a month during the period, and pre-paid were charged €21.40. Vodafone Ireland's spokeswoman said yesterday that the company's mobile charges had fallen by 46 per cent since 2000. The group's statement pointed out that the revenues it earned from customers in the last quarter of 2005 were down on the same period in 2004.

"When contrasted with the 9 per cent increase in usage across the base, this clearly demonstrates Vodafone Ireland's continued commitment to providing increased value to our customers," it said.