Eircom this evening warned senior lenders that its earnings for the last six months are down on last year and behind target. It also revealed that its fibre broadband rollout commenced last month with plans to reach 1m homes in three years.
The national incumbent operator in its report to senior lenders said that EBITDA for the six months ending in December was down significantly on the previous year’s results.
The operator blamed reduced consumer confidence and increased industry competition for the poor results.
The reduction in earnings is concentrated in the consumer and small business sectors.
Another factor was continued pressure on mobile ARPUs and the number of people dropping their fixed line connections.
However, Eircom’s Wholesale, Technology and Business divisions performed better than expected.
Reduced capex
Eircom told its lenders that it expects reduced revenues in its forecasts up to 2017, especially from consumers and small firms.
The management plan to 2017 envisages an “accelerated” fibre rollout but reduced overall capital expenditure (capex).
Eircom said that the first phase of its fibre rollout commenced on schedule last month.
“It is expected to deliver fibre connections to 100,000 premises by the end of Summer 2012,” Eircom said.
“In addition, the full rollout has been accelerated to reach 1 million homes in three years. The company will also continue its investment in both mobile networks and its customer acquisition programmes.”
Eircom added that its plans to sell the company through Morgan Stanley are continuing, with interested parties expected to make offers mid-March.
