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Telefónica O2 Ireland - Q4 Key Performance Indicators to 31 December 2008

Customer base reaches highest ever level of 1.728 million customers
Almost 82,000 new customers added in 2008

Thursday 26th February 2008 - Telefónica O2 Ireland today issued its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Q4 period, from 1 October 2008 to 31 December 2008.

Telefónica O2 Ireland - Q4 Summary:

  • O2's customer base at the end of December 2008 was 1.728 million, its highest level to date. 14,589 net new customers were added in the quarter, to total 81,561 net new customers in the year. Customer numbers were up almost 5% compared to the same period last year.
  • There was a 14.8% rise in the number of text messages sent in the quarter, increasing from 609 million text messages in Q3 to 699 million in Q4. Year on year there was a 73.9% increase in text usage, up from 402 million in Q4 2007.
  • Service revenue was €227 million for the quarter, down from €234 in Q3, and down 1.7% when compared with the same period last year.
  • Data revenue as a percentage of overall service revenue grew during the quarter, driven by growth in non-SMS revenues which now account for 8.3% of overall service revenues. A key driver of this growth was mobile broadband, with customer numbers standing at almost 98,000 to date.
  • Monthly average blended ARPU for the quarter was €42.6, down from €43.7 in Q3 and down from €45.7 for the same period last year.
  • For the quarter, monthly average ARPU for postpay customers was €69.2, down from €72.2 in Q3 and down from €78.8 for the same period last year. Monthly average ARPU for prepay customers was €26.7, down from €27.7 in Q3 and down from €29 for the same period last year.
  • Average monthly minutes of use decreased slightly in the quarter from 246 to 243.

Commenting, Paul Whelan, Chief Financial Officer, Telefónica O2 Ireland said: "On the back of a slowing economy, trading conditions in the last quarter of 2008 were very difficult for all businesses, and the telecoms sector was no different. Although we saw a slight decline in revenues, we continued to win customers in the marketplace, adding almost 15,000 new customers in the quarter, and 82,000 in total in 2008. We have achieved this by continuing to support and meet the changing needs of our customers. Our value for money price plans launched in 2008 have proved to be extremely popular with customers. We also introduced new cost control services available with O2 price plans including Spend Alerts, a text service that alerts customers when they have reached a particular amount on their bill, allowing them to control their spend".

"As the business environment continues to get tougher, we are focusing even greater efforts on attracting and retaining customers in the year ahead. We will continue to work with our customers to offer innovative products and value for money price plans, while maintaining our focus on offering the highest quality customer service."

O2 is part of Telefónica S.A, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.