Telecoms group Eircom has reported first-quarter group revenues of €514 million and a pretax profit of €173 million for the three months to the end of September. John Collinsreports.
Both figures are up 4 per cent from the same period last year.
With revenues from fixed lines stagnating, it was mobile operator Meteor that delivered the growth. It had revenues of €116 million for the quarter, up 33 per cent on the corresponding quarter of 2006. Pretax earnings in the mobile division more than doubled to €28 million, up from €11 million a year ago.
Meteor now has 908,000 subscribers, having added a net 33,000 during the quarter. Subscriber numbers are up 24 per cent from a year ago, although just 109,000 are the higher spending bill-pay customers.
Eircom chief executive Rex Comb said: "The group has delivered another solid quarter of results against a backdrop of continued strong competition in all markets."
He said it had "taken a while to get Meteor into the black", but he was pleased that gross margin had grown from 22 per cent at the end of June to 24 per cent at the end of September.
Although fixed-line revenues were flat at €417 million, Eircom added 35,000 broadband subscribers during the quarter. The company now has 490,000 broadband customers, which are serviced using DSL technology over traditional telephone lines.
Mr Comb said mobile broadband had a role to play in the Irish market. He said Meteor would look at introducing a product "in due course, there's no doubt about it". ComReg is currently assessing whether Meteor has achieved 10 per cent coverage with its 3G network, the first milestone for the awarding of the licence.
The telecoms group spent €79 million on capital expenditure during the quarter. Its cash position is strong, with net cash of €237 million at the end of the quarter, up from €160 million in June. Eircom said 220 staff have chosen to leave on voluntary redundancy and Mr Comb said he hoped 500 staff would opt for the package by next March.
