Vodafone Ireland continued to add new customers during the fourth quarter of 2005 as total customer numbers rose by 34,000 to 2.05 million.
Average revenue per user (arpu) in Ireland fell by 1 per cent in the final three months of 2004, although this appears to be only reversing gains that have been made by Vodafone over the past 12 months.
Arpu fell 7.8 per cent year-on-year in Germany, 8.3 per cent in Italy and 4.3 per cent in the United Kingdom amid stiff competition and regulatory drives to cut prices.
Vodafone Group beat forecasts for customer and revenue growth across its global operations and said it had no immediate plans to sell its 45 per cent stake in US operator Verizon Wireless.
The world's biggest mobile phone firm by sales, which has come under pressure from some investors to exit Verizon and return the proceeds to shareholders, also kept its financial guidance for the year to March and its outlook for the following year.
Vodafone shares, which fell 11 per cent in 2005 and were down a further 3.5 per cent this year, rallied as much as 2.9 per cent in early trade on relief that strong growth in emerging markets, Spain and the United States was helping offset slower growth in core European markets such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.
Vodafone said it added a net 7.1 million customers in the third quarter of its financial year, spanning the key Christmas period, boosted by demand for 3G devices that offer multimedia services such as the video-calling and Internet.
Vodafone said Verizon Wireless added a record two million customers in the October to December quarter. Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin said the benefits of its stake made it worth holding as its value had risen about $10 billion a year for the past few years in a consolidating US mobile market.