Vodafone Ireland - Criticism

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)

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".

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."

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.

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

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

In August 2010, it was revealed that the Irish exchequer is 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.

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

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