Vodafone Ireland said it had a total of 2.15 million mobile customers in the three months to the end of December.
It said it had 186,000 fixed line and DSL customers by the end of the quarter, bringing its total telecoms base to 2.33 million.
The company said it added 35,000 new customers across its fixed and mobile operations, which says was the strongest organic new customer additions since Vodafone became a total telecoms provider in December 2007.
Vodafone said its quarterly average revenue per user fell by 7.7% to €37.40 in the three month period. Total texts sent in the quarter increased by 18.8% to 1.27 billion, while total voice minutes fell by 1.9% to 1.62 billion compared to the same time the previous year.
Vodafone Ireland's parent group, the world's largest mobile phone operator by revenue, raised its outlook today after posting better than expected third quarter revenues due to cost cuts and an improving picture in Europe.
Vodafone said it now saw adjusted operating profit for 2010 in the upper end of its forecast range after it said its cost reduction programme was on track.
Vodafone said its improved trading followed growth in Italy and improving trends in Britain and Germany, while Spain stabilised. Turkey, which has undergone a turnaround programme, returned to growth with a 12.9% rise in service revenue.
Organic service revenue in Europe, which has been hit by the economic downturn and a saturation of the market, was down 3.2%, compared with a 4.5% fall in the first half and forecasts of a 4.1% drop.
Competition in India however remained fierce. Service revenue in that market was up 13.8%, but the growth rate was lower than the previous quarter due to a price war which has offset growth in customer numbers.
'Service revenue trends have improved with continuing growth in our data and fixed-line revenue,' Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said in a statement. 'We are on track to deliver on our strategic priorities in the current financial year,' he added.
Vodafone posted a 10.3% rise in third-quarter revenue to £11.5 billion pounds, compared with forecasts of $11.4 billion.
It said it had a proportionate mobile customer base of 333 million with 10.3 million net additions in the quarter.
Vodafone shares ended up 3.6% to just under 139p in London.
