8. Mobile

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Mobile. Source: ComReg Quarterly Key Data Report, September 2007.

Loose talk costs money – that’s one message in the mobile telecoms statistics.

We spend more on our mobile phones than any one of the other 14 countries covered by the ComReg figures for the second quarter of 2007.

The mobile operators’ average revenue per user (ARPU) in Ireland was found to be over €44 per month. The latest Irish ARPU figures represent a 6% fall on the same period in 2006.

So, are we being ripped off? “No” say the mobile companies, we pay more because we talk more. “Yes” say consumer advocates, who say we don’t talk that much more. The answer should become clearer over time as ComReg has started collecting data on users’ minutes of use since January this year.

ComReg figures for minutes of use show the highest to be France, where the average user yakked on the phone for 245 minutes in Q2 2007.

The Irish, at 232 minutes, were close behind. And the Germans, with their lean, mean ARPU figures? Their average was only 104 minutes of use – considerably less than half the Irish figure, just like their ARPU.

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