3GScottishUser
23rd January 2006, 07:48 AM
From Reuters (23/01/2006):
LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone group O2 said on Monday it had added 1.75 million new customers in the key Christmas quarter, beating forecasts and underscoring its value to its Spanish acquirer.
The mobile operator, set to be swallowed by Spains Telefonica this month after agreeing to 17.7 billion pound ($31.1 billion) takeover last year, said its customer base rose to 27.4 million in the fiscal third quarter.
This was O2s best ever quarter since its demerger from Britains BT Group in November 2001.
"As we approach completion of the acquisition of O2 by Telefonica, all our businesses are performing well, and we look forward to maintaining momentum as part of Telefonica," Chief Executive Peter Erskine said in a statement.
Announcing its last set of figures as an independent company, O2 said it added 895,000 customers in Britain and 823,000 in Germany, its two main markets. It added 32,000 customers in Ireland.
Analysts had forecast net customer additions of about 1.28 to 1.31 million for the company.
O2 said it was particularly pleased with its performance in the UK contract market, where it added 274,000 net new customers and also saw a significant fall in both contract and pre-pay churn.
The company said customer revenues, or annual ARPU (average revenues per user), slipped year-on-year to 272 pounds in Britain and slipped to 338 euros in Germany.
Its net service revenue in the UK grew by 12 percent year-on-year during the quarter, while in Germany it grew 17 percent.
Shares in O2 ended last week at 199-1/4 pence, just shy of the 200p that Telefonica is offering for the company.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/01/23/business/o2adds175millioncustomers.html&template=/business/feeds/story_template.html
LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone group O2 said on Monday it had added 1.75 million new customers in the key Christmas quarter, beating forecasts and underscoring its value to its Spanish acquirer.
The mobile operator, set to be swallowed by Spains Telefonica this month after agreeing to 17.7 billion pound ($31.1 billion) takeover last year, said its customer base rose to 27.4 million in the fiscal third quarter.
This was O2s best ever quarter since its demerger from Britains BT Group in November 2001.
"As we approach completion of the acquisition of O2 by Telefonica, all our businesses are performing well, and we look forward to maintaining momentum as part of Telefonica," Chief Executive Peter Erskine said in a statement.
Announcing its last set of figures as an independent company, O2 said it added 895,000 customers in Britain and 823,000 in Germany, its two main markets. It added 32,000 customers in Ireland.
Analysts had forecast net customer additions of about 1.28 to 1.31 million for the company.
O2 said it was particularly pleased with its performance in the UK contract market, where it added 274,000 net new customers and also saw a significant fall in both contract and pre-pay churn.
The company said customer revenues, or annual ARPU (average revenues per user), slipped year-on-year to 272 pounds in Britain and slipped to 338 euros in Germany.
Its net service revenue in the UK grew by 12 percent year-on-year during the quarter, while in Germany it grew 17 percent.
Shares in O2 ended last week at 199-1/4 pence, just shy of the 200p that Telefonica is offering for the company.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/01/23/business/o2adds175millioncustomers.html&template=/business/feeds/story_template.html