Vodafone Ireland's average revenue per user (Arpu) decreased 3.6 per cent year-on-year to €43.90 in the quarter to the end of December last. In a sign of intensifying competition - there are now five mobile brands in the Irish market - the decrease in Arpu came as customer usage increased during the quarter.

Total voice minutes were up by 5.5 per cent to 1,543 million and messages sent increased 13.8 per cent to 884 million.

The company's parent, Vodafone Group, said third-quarter revenue rose 4.2 per cent, led by India and Turkey, to €12.34 billion. Chief executive Arun Sarin said it achieved "modest" revenue gains in Europe by offsetting 15 per cent to 20 per cent price declines with sales of internet and e-mail services.

Ireland's largest mobile operator, which had 2.265 million subscribers at the end of last year, said December was a record month for text and multimedia messages on its network. Customers sent and received 318 million messages, up 18 per cent on December 2006.

Vodafone's mobile internet service is now used by 58,000 people a day. The firm said it signed up 11,000 new subscribers during the quarter, giving it a total of 52,000 users at the end of 2007. It was the first quarter during which Perlico, the telecoms and broadband provider it acquired for up to €80 million, was part of the group. Perlico brought 64,000 fixed line customers and 26,000 broadband subscribers. Irish customers on average used 236 voice minutes and sent 132 messages, compared to a European average of 147 minutes and 69 messages.