19/03/2008

Ireland Has More Phones Than People

The use of mobile phones in the Republic of Ireland has exploded in recent years, with recent statistics now showing over five million phones for the country's 4.2 million population.

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has released figures showing a 116% ownership of phones and an increase of phone ownership on the last quarter of almost 77,000 people.

The figures also revealed that 'Irish thumbs' mashed out a total of seven and a half billion text messages last year, up 7% on the previous year.

This has resulted in an incredible €1.4 billion in earnings for the communications companies in Ireland in the last quarter alone, and €4.5 billion for the year in 2007.

Mobile calls now account for 51% of all voice traffic in the Irish telecommunications market, for the first time surpassing the number of land line calls made in the Republic.

In last year’s final quarter both Vodafone and O2 showed slight declines in their market share while, between them, 3 Ireland and Meteor now account for almost 25% of the market.

(DW)

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