Vodafone Ireland's average revenue per user (Arpu) fell by 6.9 per cent year on year in the three months to the end of June to €45.40.

In a management statement released to coincide with its parent's first-quarter results, the Irish subsidiary said its subscriber base had grown by 10,000 to 2,187,000, "despite intense competition". The statement said the fall in Arpu was due to price reductions by the mobile operator because total voice minutes used by customers had grown 8 per cent to 1,490 million.

"We delivered overall price reductions of approximately 15 per cent to our customers compared with a year ago," said Vodafone Ireland chief executive Charles Butterworth.

Overall group revenues climbed by 7.5 per cent to £8.3 billion (€12.3 billion), with booming business in India and Turkey offsetting more sluggish European markets. Vodafone now has 232 million customers worldwide.

The Irish business saw strong demand for its mobile broadband product, which was introduced last November.

Sales of this increased by 50 per cent during the quarter, with 30,000 units sold to date. All of Vodafone's masts in the Republic are now upgraded to provide broadband that gives it coverage for over 80 per cent of the population.

"My priority is to ensure that Vodafone remains the first choice of mobile broadband provider," said Mr Butterworth.

A spokeswoman for Vodafone Ireland said that the trend of fixed-line calls being replaced by mobile calls was continuing and the company expected this to be mirrored in the broadband market. The company also saw strong demand for its "Free Texts or Free Weekends for Life" offer to prepay customers. In the first quarter, 520,000 customers registered for the offer.

Mobile phone usage levels by Vodafone Ireland customers remained well above Vodafone's European average. Irish customers spoke on average for 234 minutes and sent 120 text messages per month in this quarter compared to Vodafone's European average of 146 minutes and 63 messages.

The Vodafone group results were broadly welcomed by financial analysts and shareholders. Arun Sarin, group chief executive, said the company "had made a good start to the financial year" and "continues to make progress in the execution of our strategic objectives".

The British mobile phone giant faces a shareholder meeting on July 24th where it will come under pressure regarding its 45 per cent stake in US carrier Verizon. A small activist shareholder, Efficient Capital Structures, has called on the company to either spin off its stake or create a tracker stock.