Irish telecoms company Eir has reported revenue down 1 percent or EUR 3 million year-on-year to EUR 307 million for the FY20 third quarter to 31 March 2020, with EBITDA up 5 percent or EUR 7 million to EUR 154 million.
Operating costs for the quarter were EUR 96 million, down by 5 percent or EUR 4 million from the year-earlier quarter, with Eir ending the quarter with a cash balance sheet of EUR 217 million. For the year to date, revenue was down 2 percent or EUR 20 million to EUR 924 million, with EBITDA up 4 percent or EUR 15 million to EUR 441 million. Operating costs for the nine months were EUR 287 million, down by 8 percent or EUR 26 million.
The company reported consistent solid growth in its key performance indicators, with strong year-on-year growth in fibre broadband and post-paid mobile customers, quarter-on-quarter growth in TV customers, and continued growth in multi-play product bundling. The Fibre Network roll-out programme has now passed 72,000 urban and suburban premises across Ireland with FTTH gigabit broadband, up by 42,000 since December 2019.
The number of premises passed with fibre has reached over 1.9 million, or around 80 percent of Irish premises; with 501,000 premises now passed with FTTH across Ireland, up by 164,000 or 49 percent year-on-year. Eir ended the third quarter with 748,000 fibre broadband connections, 78 percent of the total broadband base; with 36 percent of customers on triple or quad-play bundles, up 4 percentage points year-on-year. Total broadband customers reached 945,000, up 1 percent or 13,000 year-on-year.
Total mobile customers reached 1.71 million in Q3, up 13 percent or 139,000 year-on-year, driven by the success of the GoMo budget brand. Two thirds (65%) of mobile customers are on post-paid plans, with post-paid subscribers up 35 percent or 199,000 year-on-year; and 30 percent of households include mobile in a bundle.
Eir TV customers reached 77,000 in Q3, up 3 percent or 2,000 quarter-on-quarter, and down 3 percent or 2,000 year-on-year. Total household revenue generating units (RGUs) reached 50 RGUs per household in Q3, up 4 percent.
CEO Carolan Lennon said that Eir would continue with its EUR 1 billion capital investment programme where it is safe to do so. The 5G mobile network now covers 20 towns and cities, with Eir looking to extend 5G to all major towns in Ireland over the coming months.
