The mobile market in Ireland is a tough spot,also becoming more competitive but with Ireland still highly over priced compared to our EU counterparts its a tough business with new things coming,new plans,new ideas and in the future new competition but is this all good albeit we are expensive compared to our friends over the seas.
Taking into account we are a small country hence a small market we have breached the human population count with mobile phones,what does that mean??
Well according to statistics Ireland has just passed a 122.5% penetration rate last December,what that means in simple terms many of us have more than one phone,many of us tend to have back up phones just in case this been one reason,another would be people that have a personal and work phone,with phones now so cheap some can be called throwaway devices ,an example of that is say you are heading out for a night and you have a cheap phone and could not care less if you lost it,its a device you can be contacted on simple as that,and lets be honest how many people loose phones on the weekend or on night out,its happened to us all,and yes to me too…
SMS is dying its fact some think it different, well i have news for you it is,up until this year sms was dropping off a 10% rate annually this time round its now down 27.6% and why? Its because of messaging apps,its funny how we are and can be still charged for sms in 2014 its been lucrative for operators over the years but now its slacking off at a drastic rate,In fairness we all have some free sms or bundle in mobile plans,free network to network sms etc and weekend rates with free sms,but because the market is so diverse people change network and sms may not be in the plan or you have a certain amount free,same applies to data which is now the money maker in mobile another thing for consumers to think about is data allowance..
Once we go over our sms or data allowances in any plan on any network its ching ching for the networks,always been the case,for a long time always will be but you can be clever to customize your plan or pick one that suits you so you do not go over your data,sms,voice allowance,we will be discussing this soon…
Remember sms apps run off data and wifi so this is where you can be smart should you have wifi at home in work or free public wifi in your area etc….
MMS is has also slacked off due to prices incurred on sending pictures etc,this is why messaging apps are taking over here too,would you spend 30 cent to send a photo when you can send one free over wifi or data? No it think not..
MARKET SHARE.
Lyca mobile now has a share of 4.5% relativity new but no so new they have entered the charts,they can offer great deals well done to them…
Tesco mobile have a 2.5% steak in the irish market…
Meteor and Emobile have a joint share of 21% in the market (sister networks)
O2 have lost share in the market share there remains a certain uncertainty here as the acquisition deal with three remains open,but soon we will know all about it.They have a 24% share in the market..
Three is at 10.1% if three take over 02 later in the year it will give them a massive jump of up to 40% approx..
Vodafone Ireland remain at tops still with a massive 39% while Vodafone is slightly more expensive offering the best coverage seems to be working,but all networks have blackspots,all networks still have to work on 3G and some commuter belts,as an example the M3 has bad coverage sometimes none or offering only edge as in data connection.
You can have a look in more detail here as to the latest figures direct from COMGREG