3 Ireland reports rising revenue, subscribers in 1H

Irish mobile network operator 3 Ireland, owned by Hong Kong-listed Hutchison Whampoa, said revenues for the first six months of this year climbed 17% year-on-year to EUR83 million (USD101.5 million), EBIT improved by 157% to EUR17 million, although the unit posted a loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of EUR15 million. CAPEX in 1H12 reached EUR31 million, it said, as 3 Ireland closed out 30 June 2012 with a total of 715,000 registered mobile users (including inactive users), down 11% y-o-y, of which post-paid customers totalled 348,000. The cellco said pre-pay users fell 23% y-o-y to 367,000 as the result of a decision to remove some inactive SIMs from its registered base. The Irish unit also booked a one-time gain of EUR47 million related to its recently signed network sharing agreement with Vodafone.