Telecoms operator Eircom posted a 2 per cent rise in underlying core earnings today and said it was still looking at all options for re-entering the Ireland's lucrative mobile market.
The former state monopoly said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and excluding restructuring and exceptional costs were €615 million versus €602 million in the same period last year.
Analysts had expected Eircom to report adjusted EBITDA of €617 million for the 12 months to the end of March.
At €1.602 billion, sales at the company were down two per cent versus the previous year but exactly in line with analyst expectations.
Eircom, which has set itself a target of 500,000 broadband users by December 2007, said that it had 128,000 broadband customers by the end of March versus 114,000 at the end of 2005 and that as of today it now had over 140,000 users.
The company said that it was still looking at ways to enter the mobile telecoms market, which it quit in 2001 with the sale of its Eircell unit to Vodafone.
"While we are committed to mobile re-entry, progress has been slower than anticipated. We have consistently stated our re-entry must be achieved on terms which are commercially sensible to us," the company said in a statement.
Analysts say they want to hear more on Eircom's strategy for entering the mobile telephone market, particularly after local media reported that it was in talks to buy local operator Meteor from US carrier Western Wireless.