Revenues at telecoms provider Eir rose 11% or €35m to €332m in the final quarter of 2021 in what it described as a strong result in line with expectations.

The former state-owned company saw earnings for the quarter rise 6% or €9m to €156m while costs increased 8% or €9m to €100m, and total cash on balance sheet at the end of the year was €289m.

For the full year, revenues were up 5% or €62m to €1.3bn, with earnings of €632m (up 5% or €30m) and costs of €387m (up 3% or €12m).

"Our performance in the quarter to December saw further solid growth, with continued year-on-year increases across our fibre, mobile, and bundled customer bases, coupled with revenue growth in data services and postpay mobile, as well as from the consolidation of [IT service provider] Evros and [National Broadband Plan] access revenue," Stephen Tighe, CFO of Eir, said.

"As we look ahead, we continue our focus on delivering consistent, solid results, with further growth in our key customer bases, continued business streamlining and optimisation, strong cash generation, and important capital expenditure on our fibre and mobile networks to drive future growth."

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The company increased its base of fibre broadband customers by 28,000 or 4% year-on-year to 826,000, accounting for 86% of its total broadband base, with 40% of customers now on triple or quad-play bundle, an increase of three points from the end of 2020.

Eir's total number of broadband customers fell 1% or 6,000 to 963,000, with a 2% of 10,000 increase in wholesale customers cancelled out by a 4% or 16,000 reduction in retail customers.

The company also increased its number of bill pay mobile customers by 76,000 or 9% to 891,000, accounting for 73% of its total mobile customers (1.2m), and Eir now has 82,000 television customers, up 1% year-on-year.

Eir also announced that it has passed 2m premises with its fibre broadband network, accounting for 86% of premises in Ireland, and 746,000 premises have now been passed with fibre to the home, an annual increase of 31% or 177,000. The firm's 5G network, meanwhile, is available in 430 towns and cities.

Incoming CEO Oliver Loomes, who replaced Carolan Lennon during the quarter, said Eir would invest in expanding its fixed and mobile network while continuing to provide services such as the cut-price GoMo mobile offering, Eir TV, and IT solutions provider Eir Evo.

Eir recently partnered with InfraVia Capital Partners to establish the Fibre Networks Ireland joint venture as part of plans to expand its networks and accelerate the rollout of fibre to the home connections to 1.9m premises.

"The investment and expertise provided through this partnership will increase the rollout pace by approximately 25%, with 200,000 premises to be passed this year, increasing to 250,000 premises next year," Loomes said of the venture.

"This partnership approach will see Ireland become one of the most fibre-connected countries in the world, faster than originally planned, solidifying Eir’s position as the national market leader in fibre-to-the-home provision across retail, business, and wholesale segments."

Loomis added: "In my role as CEO, I am looking forward to building on past success and leading Eir through the next chapter of its transformation as we move towards an increasingly connected future."

Photo: Incoming Eir CEO Oliver Loomes (left) with his predecessor Carolan Lennon.