AN POST DEFENDS MAIL PERFORMANCE - Last night the communications regulator published its findings for 2006 on how business and householders find the postal service. It shows that business is sending more post but the rest of us are sending less, while more of us are aware that there are competitors to An Post.
An Post's sales and marketing director Liam Sheehan said the postal market had been open to competition for a number of years and it was inevitable that customers would try alternatives.
He said 2006 had been a successful year for An Post, with volume and revenue growing. Mr Sheehan defended stamp prices, saying that An Post was in the bottom quartile in Europe, and was still extremely good value.
He said businesses were sending more mail, but consumers were sending less, which was a trend across Europe. But Mr Sheehan said the volume of consumer mail last Christmas had increased for the first time in four years.
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CHALLENGES FOR NEW VODAFONE CHIEF - Charles Butterworth, an executive with the Vodafone Group, has been appointed the new chief executive of the country's largest mobile phone services provider Vodafone Ireland. The country is saturated with subscribers and more competition means ARPU or average revenue per user incomes are falling.
Pat Kidney of telecoms consultant Analysis Mason said Mr Butterworth's main challenge would be to hold on to existing customers and then increase revenue with newer and more innovative services such as broadband and mobile television.
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ANNUAL LOSS FOR THIRDFORCE - Electronic learning group ThirdForce has reported pre-tax losses of €1.4m for last year.
