Vodafone Ireland

Vodafone Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group, is a mobile phone network, broadband and TV provider in Ireland. It was created when the Vodafone Group bought Eircell, the mobile arm of Telecom Éireann. As of September 2019, Vodafone has 26% of broadband subscribers (including 40% of fiber to the premises subscribers), and 43% of mobile phone subscribers.[1]

The company operates a full range of voice, SMS, MMS and mobile data services using a 2G GSM 900/1800 network and a 3G UMTS 900/2100 network capable of offering a range of broadband services including DC-HSPA+ which can deliver up to a theoretical 43.2 Mbit/s. Their 4G network was launched in October 2013. Vodafone claims over 99% of the island of Ireland is covered by their 4G network within the Republic. Vodafone 4G operates on the 800/1800 network offering speeds of up to 75 Mbit/s. They have also built a new kind of 4G called 4G+ which enables speeds of 225 Mbit/s on devices that support this and the initial roll out of this service was in major towns and cities first becoming more widespread over time. Vodafone 4G is available to over 6 cities and 500 towns in Ireland making Vodafone the strongest and most widespread 4G service offered in the country. Their 5G service was launched in 2019.

Vodafone Ireland offers a full range of contract (bill pay) and prepay services, including mobile telephony and mobile broadband.

The company also offers a range of fixed-line services including traditional telephone services,

Criticism

Analysis by the Sunday Independent in January 2006 showed the massive margins being earned by Vodafone and O2 in the country are costing Irish mobile phone users about €300m a year. If the mobile phone companies were to cut their Irish margins to the group average, Vodafone customers would see their annual bills falling by an average of €80.47 (€6.71 a month)[2]

The European Commission upheld a ruling by the Irish regulatory body, Comreg, that the Irish mobile phone market needed greater competition, and acknowledged that "tacit collusion possibly existed between O2 and Vodafone".[3]

A senior manager at Vodafone Ireland in March 2007 was dismissed following allegations that he defrauded the mobile operator of more than €1m. The company added in a statement: "As the matter is subject to legal proceedings, Vodafone cannot comment further."[4][5]

The National Parents Council criticised mobile phone companies for the lack of information available about filtering. The Sunday Tribune tested access to four separate sites – a pornography site, an Irish escort site, a pro-anorexia site and a prosuicide site – on the mobile phone networks Vodafone, O2, 3 and Meteor. All four networks allowed access.[6]

In January 2009 it was revealed that Ireland was nearly the most profitable market in the world for multinational mobile operators like Vodafone.[7]

In April 2009, the company admitted to overcharging 100,000 of its Irish customers a total of €900,000 by incorrectly billing them.[8]

In August 2010, it was revealed that the Irish exchequer was facing a demand from the company for a substantial corporation tax refund after it agreed that tax paid in Ireland should have been paid in Britain. The Vodafone subsidiary in question had profits of over €200 million but just 20 employees.[9]

In March 2011, Vodafone pleaded guilty to four breaches of the Data Protection Act at the Dublin District Court.[10]

Vodafone admitted in June 2012 it had not returned more than half of the €1.9m it overcharged customers and there was little likelihood the remainder would be returned. ComReg said it was monitoring Vodafone's provision of refunds to affected consumers.[11]

The Department of Justice advised Vodafone publishing details of data requested by the Gardaí and other Irish authorities might compromise national security and hinder the investigation of serious criminal activity but it subsequently published the data.[12]

Vodafone has a long-standing relationship with Amdocs,[13] a large software and services company founded in Israel that has been repeatedly accused of espionage, including in the US.[14] In 2024, Vodafone implemented the Amdocs BSS/OSS platform that processes mobile and fixed service usage data.

type	Subsidiary
foundation	1984 (as Eircell) May 8, 2001 (as Vodafone Ireland)
hq location	MountainView, Leopardstown, Dublin 18 D18 XN97
key people	Amanda Nelson (CEO)
area served	Ireland
industry	Mobile Telecommunication
products	Mobile network, telecom services
parent	Vodafone Group
brands	Vodafone Smart
former name	Eircell
website	vodafone.ie

Eircell

Rebranding

Criticism

Perlico

Acquisition of BT customers

See also

External links

References