Eircom CEO Herb Hribar
Eircom reported second-quarter revenues of €334m, down 5pc on last year. The company’s broadband base stood at 696,000, up 19,000 in the quarter and 27,000 in the six months to December.
The incumbent operator reported that EBITDA for the quarter was €114m, down 1pc on last year.
Eircom’s total retail customer base, including fixed and mobile customers, stood at 1.9m – including just over 1m mobile customers.
Its total customer base, including wholesale customers, amounted to 2,405,000 at 31 December 2013.
Fixed-line access net losses were 1,000 for the second quarter compared with 10,000 last year.
Fibre footprint
The past six months saw Eircom doggedly stick to its plan to roll out fibre-based broadband to 1m premises by this summer, as well as the rollout of the operator’s broadband-based TV service eVision.
“Our second quarter and half-year results highlight continued stabilisation in our bottom line and progress on cost reduction,” said CEO Herb Hribar.
“The macro economy in Ireland is demonstrating signs of recovery and consumer sentiment is at its brightest since 2007. We remain fully committed to addressing competitive challenges through continued investment in our fixed and mobile networks that enable the commercialisation of a new range of products and services.
“The rollout of high-speed fibre broadband continued during the quarter, and at the end of December 2013 the fibre footprint had passed 700,000 homes and businesses and we are now on track to pass 1,000,000 premises by summer 2014. This has been a major driver in the 5pc year-on-year growth of the group’s broadband base, the third consecutive quarter of growth.
“When our fibre rollout is completed in July 2016, 1.4m, or 70pc, of all homes and businesses in Ireland will have access to high-speed broadband. We also continue to roll out our 4G network, which now covers 40pc of the population in Ireland. Finally, we remain the only operator in Ireland with the capability to offer a ‘quad play’ of services, including our new eVision IPTV offering,” Hribar said.
