O2 mobile phone users in Ireland are paying more than twice their German counterparts for some mobile services, traffic figures released by the company today show.
O2 Ireland reported a 6 per cent increase in customer numbers in the fourth quarter of 2005, bringing its Irish customer base to 1.6 million.
But a breakdown of the average revenue per user (arpu) shows that O2 Ireland's post-paid customers paid an average of €1,115 in 2005 compared to €514 for the same service in Germany and £527 (€765) in the United Kingdom.
In the pre-paid market Irish customers pay an average of €360 compared to €135 in Germany and £139 (€202) in the UK.
The "blended" figure which takes into account the different composition of prepaid and post-paid customers shows that Irish customers still pay more than German and British customers.
The rolling 12-month figure for Ireland is €572, €338 for Germany and £272 (€395) in the United Kingdom.