Eircom sees revenue fall by 7 per cent

Revenue at telecoms provider Eircom fell 7 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year as the company lost broadband and fixed line customers.

But the mobile business continued to show growth, and group costs were trimmed as Eircom put in place savings measures and pressed ahead with plans to save €100 million per year with 2,000 staff cutbacks.

In the three months to September 30th 2012, revenue for the group was €363 million, down €26 million from a year earlier.

Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell 10 per cent to €124 million.

Operating costs fell 4 per cent to €160 million for the quarter.

Eircom has more than 2 million customers, with just under 1.1 million signed up to its mobile services. The firm plans to roll out 4G services by the summer following the results of a spectrum auction announced last month.

Chief executive Herb Hribar said the group's performance continued to edge lower but the decline was slowing and was in line with expectations.

The company's fixed line business continued to shrink, with revenues down 7 per cent and earnings before interest and tax falling 12 per cent.

Eircom shed 2,000 broadband customers over the quarter, reducing its customer base by 4 per cent to 459,000. However, Mr Hribar said the company was hoping to win back customers with new products and continued investment in its fibre broadband network, announcing that it would extend the high speed services to 300,000 homes and businesses across the country.

"This phase of the network is scheduled to finish in December 2014 and will reach one million premises," he said.

"We remain fully committed to our investment strategy in high speed broadband across both our fixed and mobile platforms."

The company grew its mobile customer base by 3 per cent, adding 20,000 net customers as its bill-pay subscribers rose in the quarter, and earnings were up by €2 million. Revenues declined 5 per cent however.

"The performance of the business in the first quarter demonstrates why we must aggressively address the costs in our business," chief financial officer Richard Moat said, adding that the company was making progress in slowing its revenue decline and stabilising the overall customer base.