Eircom’s full year revenue for the year to June 2015 of €1,265m was down 1% year-on-year but the company said that turnover in Q4 advanced by 5%, the first annual increase in seven years.

CEO Richard Moat reduced full-year operating costs by 7% to €512m. This helped push up EBITDA by 3% to €481m. In the fixed line segment, revenues in Q4 were up 5% at €250m. For the full year, there was a 2% decrease to €959m.

According to Moat (pictured): “This has been a transformative year in the financial and operational performance of the group. We passed a symbolic milestone in June, recording year on year revenue growth in the quarter for the first time in seven years, driven by both our fixed and mobile segments.

“It is the result of implementing a consistent strategy over the past three years centred on network investment that has provided much improved product capability and compelling propositions to all our customer segments. One quarter of customers now avail of our TV or mobile bundles and we remain the only operator in the market to offer a quad play of services.

“Year on year mobile EBITDA growth of 62% and encouraging TV uptake were key contributors to the overall EBITDA growth.”

In Association with

Moat said the company’s investment programme in 2014/15 amounted to €290m. He added that the launch of fibre to the home technology as a commercial service with broadband speed of up to 1GB per second is imminent.

“It is also our intention to introduce a new brand for the company, with details revealed over the coming weeks. The decision to launch a new brand underlines the extent to which the company has evolved our commitment to Ireland and our ambition for the future.”

EIRCOM TRADING HIGHLIGHTS 2014/15

Broadband
o 782,000 total broadband connections, up 9% year on year
o 64,000 broadband connections in the year
o Retail broadband base of 454,000 flat year-on-year
o 66,000 wholesale broadband connections added for total of 328,000 lines (Sky, Vodafone etc)
o Fibre uptake in the year- up 148,000 to 281,000, representing 22% penetration of premises passed
o Fibre network now reaches 1.3 million homes and businesses; target is 1.9 million

Mobile
o Base grew 28,000 to 1,083,000
o Fixed mobile bundle grew 47,000 to 110,000
o Postpay mobile base increased 49,000 in the year to 44% of customer base
o 8,000 decrease in prepaid customer base to 608,000 in Q4
o Over 280,000 4G customers

TV
o Customers up 19,000 year on year to 40,000
o 25% take up by consumer fibre base

Bundles
o 25% of customers now have TV/mobile bundles
o 1.89 revenue generating units per customer up from 1.73 June 2014