Mobile phone company O2 Ireland will report steady service revenue and earnings growth for the first half of the year, its parent MmO2 said yesterday.
MmO2 also said it saw strong customer and revenue growth across its European businesses during the second quarter, but revenue expansion would slow in the second half of the year.
"In the UK, we remain focused on delivering our full-year target of 10 per cent service revenue growth and a 30 per cent EBITDA (earnings, before, interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin, although we expect the market to become more competitive in the second half," said chief executive Mr Peter Erskine.
MmO2, which is Europe's fifth-largest publicly quoted mobile phone operator, disclosed in an interim results statement yesterday that it expects full-year capital expenditure to come in 5 to 10 per cent below a previous forecast of £1.3 billion (€1.9 billion).
The group's savings on capital expenditure would be achieved despite an acceleration of the firm's third-generation mobile investment programme in the second half of the year, it said.
The company shed 1,900 jobs in the last financial year and Mr Erskine said he would seek further operational efficiencies across the group. An MmO2 spokesman said this statement was not a precursor, however, for any large-scale job cuts. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
