Results published last week by Eircom show that Meteor is starting to score points against O2 and Vodafone.

Over the past 12 months, Meteor added around 250,000 subscribers, growing its market share from 10% to almost 15%. Meanwhile, O2 and Vodafone added 60,000 and 118,000 respectively.

The race is on to conquer new customer groups: children growing older; students graduating, getting jobs and moving from pre-paid phones to contract; and the pool of potential customers created by immigration.

Meteor chief executive Robert Haulbrook credits aggressive marketing, improved distribution and better customer service for Meteor's resurgence. Meteor has historically been successful in appealing to under20s, but the operator has been broadening its reach over the past year.

Consumers will have found it hard to avoid Meteor's TV and outdoor ad campaign featuring two 20-something women.

"We're starting to become much more effective in the age category of 20- to 35-yearolds, " said Haulbrook.

Meteor is adding another 18 shops to its 22-store chain, and expects to launch a range of new products during the year.

Meteor's larger rivals are at a different juncture. Growth is starting to tail off for Vodafone and O2, which between them account for over 80% of the Irish market. O2's customer numbers increased by just 4% last year. Average revenue per user, a key measure in the mobile industry, remained virtually static.

Vodafone, the market leader with over two million Irish customers, is exploring new ways to appeal to untapped niches. Last week, it flew Polish DJ Jarek to a party in Dublin with free Polish beer and food for 200 guests.

Bernadette Mulcahy, Vodafone Ireland's head of consumer marketing, said the decision to target Polish mobile users came from research showing that many of its Polish customers were calling home regularly but not using their mobiles.

Vodafone just dropped its call charges to Poland, and the company has put together an advertising campaign including placing ads in Polish language newspapers.

"We would intend to have a growing share of that market, " Mulcahy said.

The mobile company is looking at other ways to appeal to immigrants, including lower international call charges to countries including the Czech Republic, Latvia and Hungary. "We also make sure we have retail staff speaking the various languages."

O2 has followed suit. The company is about to announce the expansion of its 'Speakeasy international package', which offers cheaper international calls to 35 countries. A spokeswoman said the company will advertise the offer in foreign-language media including the Polska Herald.

Meanwhile, customers in O2 shops can pick up information leaflets on new phones and price plans in 10 different languages. In the Irish mobile market, it seems, it's good to talk but even better to be multilingual.