EARLIER THIS week I reported that UPC Ireland boss Robert Dunn was opposed to Eircom being nationalised and described the cable group as being the second-biggest broadband provider here with 102,000 subscribers.
I expected BT Ireland to politely dispute that description. BT and UPC had been neck and neck for some time in terms of broadband customer numbers with each keen to have ownership of second spot in the rankings.
Instead, it was mobile operator 3 Ireland, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, that was in touch to point out helpfully that, in fact, it is the number two broadband player to Eircom.
According to 3, it has 140,000 broadband users here among its 400,000 phone customers. The total broadband market here was 1.2 million at the end of 2008.
3 has a chunky 45 per cent share of the mobile broadband market, indicating that it is wiping the eye of at least one of its more established mobile rivals, either Vodafone or O2.
Broadband is the sexy part of telecoms, helped by the explosion of social networking. This explains the constant chatter from politicians about the importance of investing in high-speed internet to aid our economic recovery.
It’s heartening to note the strong competition in broadband. It is just one reason why Eircom should not be nationalised.
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While Denis O’Brien helps Independent News Media refinance a €200 million bond next month, there was better news for another of his listed company investments.
Sterling Energy, the oil and gas explorer listed on Aim, has reached a deal with all its syndicate banks regarding the granting of a waiver until mid-August 2009, in relation to a schedule of repayments on its loans.
O’Brien owns 15 per cent of Sterling and has spent more than £6.5 million building his stake since late 2007. He paid up to 13 pence a share for stock that is now trading at just under 2 pence as a result of the global economic downturn and falling energy prices.
Sterling is hoping a project in Kurdistan will come up trumps. O’Brien must have his fingers crossed, too.
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Last week I stated that British Airways’ revenues from Ireland amounted to €60 million, down €28 million on the previous year. This was based on BA’s figures.
Something was lost in translation and BA has been in touch to clarify matters.
To set the record straight, BA earned revenues of €74 million from its activities here in the 12 months to the end of March 2009. This compared with €88 million in the previous year.
When converted to sterling, BA’s reporting currency, the Irish business’s revenues were flat.
