O2 boasts of 3m 4G customers as it soars past Vodafone and lands behind EE
Telefonica’s UK network O2 added 319,000 new users in the third quarter, giving the UK’s second largest operator a customer base of over 24m.
Chief executive Ronan Dunne told reporters that this figure now included more than 3m 4G customers, nearly double Vodafone’s 1.4m 4G customers, putting the network in solid second place behind EE’s 6m 4G users.
Dunne said the home remained an area of interest for O2, but unlike Vodafone which yesterday announced it would launch consumer TV and fixed-line broadband next year, Dunne said he had no interest in a so-called quad-play offering.
“We do see O2 moving into environments like the home… but with mobile as the controlling element, rather than going back to fixed line,” he said.
In Europe Telefonica saw its overall profit fall 9.4 per cent in the nine months to 30 September to €2.85bn (£2.24bn).