Vodafone is Ireland's leading mobile phone operator with a customer base of over 1.8 million and a total of 1,500 employees. The company was established in 1984, and operated Ireland's first mobile phone service as part of the former state telco - Telecom Eireann. Operating under the separate brand - Eircell - it enjoyed huge expansion in the late '90's as mobile telephony was embraced in Ireland. In May 2001, Eircell was acquired by Vodafone in the largest deal ever in Irish corporate history. The company is now part of the world's largest mobile community.

Vodafone holds 54% of the market share in Ireland, with mobile penetration in Ireland now standing at 87%.

Preliminary results published for the year ended 31 March 2004 show that Vodafone Group had a turnover of (Stg)£33.6 billion and profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, rose to (Stg)£10 billion. In Ireland, data revenues as a percentage of total revenues exceed 20% - the highest in the Group after Japan. Blended Irish ARPU on a 12 month rolling basis was EUR582, attributable to the embracing of data services, high penetration of Vodafone live! handsets, and also extremely high levels of voice usage, which are the highest in all of the Group's controlled businesses, and some 50% higher than the Group average minutes of use.

Vodafone's vision is to be the world's mobile communications leader - enriching customers' lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities be more connected in a mobile world. We are committed to delighting our customers and almost half of the Vodafone Ireland team works in the area of customer care, providing 24 hour, seven-day a week customer support. To ensure the highest quality customer experience, the company invests an average of EUR3.5 - 4 million per week in network upgrades and enhancements - this is at twice the rate of our nearest competitor. We continue to invest in our 2G network, whilst accelerating the rollout of our 3G network, to ensure our customers receive the best coverage and quality of services now and in the future.

A major focus of the company is to offer innovative services within Vodafone-branded, end-to-end customer propositions which utilise the Group's global footprint and global brand to offer customers a unique mobile experience with seamless international services. We are pursuing an increasingly segmented approach to servicing our customers needs and this continuous dialogue with customers enables us to tailor innovative, responsive and cost effective communications solutions. We remain resolute on delivering a superior quality service to our customers and continue to find ways to reduce costs, innovate and add value.

Vodafone has been a consistent innovator in the Irish market - introducing new products and services ahead of the competition and setting future standards. In particular, the Vodafone live! service which was launched in October 2002 has brought a new world of colour, sound and pictures to Vodafone's customers through an easy to use colour menu, accessed from integrated camera phones. Through Vodafone live! we are delivering an increasing range of mobile services to Vodafone customers, demonstrating how Vodafone is creating service differentiation by delivering easy to use services through its customer focused marketing.

Vodafone live! is set to lay the foundations for Vodafone's next stage of growth. All data services will be accessed initially over 2.5G and, in the future, on Vodafone's 3G networks. On May 1, 2003 Vodafone Ireland opened its 3G network on a limited basis, and made the first commercial 3G call. Vodafone Ireland is planning an aggressive rollout of 3G in Ireland, which will see it investing some EUR1 billion in the coming years.

Vodafone Ireland is determined that our people and our products and services will make a vital difference, not just by facilitating effective communications but by ensuring that communities around Ireland directly benefit from the work we do. In a co-operative approach with Government we have committed €4million over 3 years as one of the telecommunications operators to jointly commit towards the rollout of broadband to all 4,100 primary and secondary schools. We have also established the Vodafone Ireland Foundation - which is our umbrella vehicle for our social investment activities. Vodafone Ireland has committed to an investment of over €500,000 to fund grant making activities to Irish registered charities through the Foundation in 2004/05.

For us corporate responsibility is about having a positive effect by running a successful, values-based business. It involves managing and measuring our interactions with society and the environment. It requires us to understand the issues that concern our stakeholders, make commitments to address these issues and report on our progress. We welcome the views of everyone on the progress we are making and how we might improve on our journey.