Group revenues declined at Eir in the second quarter of the year as group operating costs climbed and the company lost a total of 15,000 broadband and TV customers.
In a trading update on Tuesday, the telecoms company said that despite adding 68,000 mobile customers in the year to the end of June, an increase of 6 per cent, underlying revenue declined 3 per cent or €12 million to €296 million over the period. The group delivered earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of €141 million, down 12 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June.
Operating costs at Eir, owned by a consortium led by French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, jumped 3 per cent year-on-year to €97 million in the quarter, driven by an increase in “non-pay costs”, which climbed 10 per cent or €5 million. Pay-related costs, meanwhile, declined 4 per cent.
The group said that its continued “streamlining” of its cost base was “offset by additional costs” related to the acquisition of Irish IT services company Evros, which it bought for €80 million in 2021.
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Eir said its broadband customer base declined by 1 per cent or 12,000 year-on-year to 958,000 while 3,000 Eir TV customers also departed over the period, a decline of 4 per cent to 80,000 in the 12 months to the end of June.
However, it added 68,000 mobile customers, an increase of 6 per cent, while its postpay customer base grew by 10 per cent or 85,000. Overall, the group had more than 1.2 million mobile customers by the end of the second quarter.
The company also highlighted a recent report from ComReg that showed the number of complaints from Eir’s mobile customer base had declined by 91 per cent since Q3 2020. Fixed-line service complaints dropped by 88 per cent in the same period, the company pointed out.
“Our performance in the second quarter of 2022... was in line with expectations,” said Stephen Tighe, chief financial officer at Eir.
“We saw growth across the Eir fibre broadband base and in total mobile customers, including the Eir postpay mobile base, with a further increase seen in the multiplay bundling of Eir fixed households.”
Mr Tighe said the roll-out of Eir’s “fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and 5G technologies” continued in the second quarter as part of its €1 billion capital investment program.
“With 1.9 million premises expected to be passed with FTTH broadband by 2026, together with our rapid expansion in 5G network coverage, through this large-scale investment, we are well positioned to expand our customer base through the offering of high-quality, high-value products over the coming years,” he said.
