Ireland’s eir has published what it called ‘consistent, solid results in line with expectations’ for the three months ended 31 March 2021. Revenue for the period under review totalled EUR299 million (USD356 million), representing a year-on-year decline of 3%, with the company noting that the growth in turnover from broadband, data services and bundling had been offset by reduced traditional access, traffic, content and mobile revenues.
In terms of other key financial indicators, eir reported that EBITDA was stable in Q3 2021, standing at EUR154 million, while its EBITDA margin was up two percentage points, to 52%. eir’s operating costs were said to have been reduced by 4% on an annualised basis, meanwhile, to EUR92 million. Capital expenditure in 3Q21 totalled EUR60 million, down 15% y-o-y.
In terms of operational highlights, eir reported a broadband subscriber base of 970,000 as of 31 March 2021, up from 954,000 a year earlier, with the most recent figure comprising 448,000 retail broadband lines (Mar-20: 453,000) and 522,000 wholesale lines (501,000); according to the telco, the decline in retail connections was due to ‘competitive pressure’. eir also confirmed progress on its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout, revealing that it had passed 820,000 premises across the country with the technology by end-March 2021, more than double the 337,000 it reported a year earlier. Meanwhile, 2.1 million premises were said to be passed by fibre (FTTH and fibre-to-the-cabinet [FTTC] combined) at the end of the reporting period, up from 1.9 million at end-March 2020.
In the mobile sector, eir’s subscriber base totalled 1.189 million as of 31 March 2021, up marginally from 1.171 million a year earlier, with a 10% increase in post-paid accesses – driven by uptake at sub-brand GoMo – more than offsetting a 14% drop in pre-paid customer numbers. Mobile blended monthly ARPU of EUR19.8 was reported for 3Q21, compared to EUR22.3 in the corresponding quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, eir confirmed its 5G network rollout was continuing ‘at pace’, with the latest generation of mobile broadband technology now available in 288 towns and cities, via 931 sites, with population coverage standing at more than 57%.