O2 sees revenue plunge despite new customers
BRITAIN’S second-largest mobile network, O2, has seen revenues decline despite now having over one million 4G users and signing up more customers than either of its two main rivals in the final quarter last year.
O2, owned by Spain’s Telefonica, said mobile service revenue in the fourth quarter fell 6.1 per cent year-on-year to £1.12bn largely due to the impact of roaming regulation and O2 Refresh, despite adding 222,000 new contract customers.
“With Refresh we recognise the revenue from the handset separately from the mobile services, what that will tend to do is dilute the impact of mobile revenues over a period of time. We started Refresh in April 2013, and I’m sure that by the end of 2014 the adjustment will have come through as the change clears through our results,” finance chief Mark Evans said.
O2’s churn rate of users leaving the service was one per cent for the fourth consecutive quarter, the lowest among the UK’s four operators.