Mobile operator Vodafone Ireland had recruited almost two million customers by the end of last month, the company said yesterday.
Total subscriber numbers grew by 29,000 to 1.981 million in the three months to the end of June. This means that the company attracted 100,000 new customers in the space of a year.
Vodafone hit out at the telecoms regulator, Comreg, for continuing to class it as having "significant market power". The designation means that it could be obliged to let competitors piggyback on its networks to launch their own services.
Vodafone argues that the competitive landscape for mobile companies has changed dramatically since Comreg analysed the market at the end of last year.
The company's strategy director, Gerry Fahy, said Eircom's acquisition of Meteor would bring a "new, formidable player" into the market. He also pointed to the likely competitive impact of this week's launch of new network, 3.
Vodafone's figures show that it is continuing to take more cash from its Irish customers than those in other European countries, including Britain and Germany, where O2 also operates.
In addition, the data indicates that it cut rates in the UK and Germany, but left them unchanged in this country. Vodafone made an average of €609 from each of its customers in the year ended on June 30th, a 3 per cent jump over the €591 it made during the previous year.
Its statement said that Irish customers' use of their phones increased by 6 per cent, twice the rate of increase in revenue, which Vodafone claimed was an increase in value. In Germany, Vodafone made an average of €295 from each customer over the same period and in the UK it made an average of €434 from each customer.
