Vodafone Ireland said its mobile business performed well in the 12 months to the end of March and it saw a 3.2% increase in its customer base despite the challenging operating environment.
The company said it had 2.2 million customers and including its fixed line and DSL business, its total telecom base was 2.4 million by the end of March 2011.
It said that about 54% of bill pay phones sold on the Vodafone network since December were smartphones, while it saw a 30% increase in mobile broadband customers, with over 40,000 new additions during the year.
Vodafone said that Irish customers send more text messages than their European counterparts - 221 messages sent per customer compared to 108 in Europe. 5.6 billion text were sent by Vodafone Ireland customers last year - a 10.8% increase on the previous year.
However, average revenues per user fell by 10.5% to €32.30, which the company said reflected the changes in consumer spending patters over the last year.
Vodafone Ireland said it had invested €60m in its network during the year and this figure will increase this year as its upgrades its entire national network.
Vodafone surprises with upbeat outlook
British mobile phone giant Vodafone said today that that annual net profit sank 7.8% due to a huge impairment charge for its operations in debt-ravaged nations in southern Europe.
Earnings after tax fell to £7.97 billion sterling in the 12 months to the end of March, compared with £8.65 billion in 2009/2010, Vodafone said.
Impairment losses ballooned to £6.15 billion compared to £2.1 billion last time around. The group blamed weak economic environments in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal.
However, total sales increased by 3.2% to £45.88 billion, which was ahead of analysts forecasts for £44.47 billion.
'The past year has seen further strong performances in our key revenue growth areas of data, emerging markets and enterprise, and we have gained or held market share in most of our key markets,' said the company's chief executive Vittorio Colao.
'We enter the new financial year well positioned to deliver further value to our shareholders,' he added.
The group has sold off non-core assets over the past year in China, France and Japan. Vodafone said it expected to raise a total of £14.2 billion from the sale of its interests in China Mobile, SoftBank and SFR, while it has committed £6.8 billion to share buyback programmes.
Vodafone paid $5 billion in March, to buy out its Indian partner Essar from their mobile phone venture, increasing its exposure to faster-growing emerging markets.
The group also forecast today that adjusted annual operating profits would rise in the current 2011/2012 financial year to £11-11.8 billion.
Earlier this month, Vodafone confirmed that it was selling its 44% stake in French rival SFR to media group Vivendi for €7.75 billion in cash.
Analysts had expected the UK firm to post a cautious outlook after recent weak trading updates from rivals, but instead Vodafone said it was gaining or holding market share in most of its major markets and leading the switch to higher tariff smartphones.
The group also posted a strong performance in its key emerging markets of India and South Africa and said the more stable economies in northern Europe had offset weakness in southern Europe.
The company said that European organic service revenue was down 0.4% during the year, compared with a fall of 3.8% last year, as more stable economies in northern Europe such as Britain, Germany and Netherlands offset weakness in southern Europe.
India reported growth of 16.2% and Vodacom, which operates in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, posted growth of 5.8%.
