Eircom has reported a 2% fall in earnings for the first three months of its financial year. Group EBITDA came to €169m for the three months to the end of September while fixed line earnings were down €5m to €140m from the same time last year.
The group said that its first quarter revenues amounted to €513m, in line with the corresponding quarter in 2007.
Eircom said that revenue at its mobile arm, Meteor, was up 9% to €126m while earnings rose by 2% to €29m. Meteor's subscribers topped the million mark during the quarter.
Eircom said that progress continues with the rollout and testing of Meteor's 3G network.
The company said that it added 21,000 DSL broadband customers in the three month period, bringing the total number of retail and wholesale DSL customers to 614,000. This represents a 25% increase on customer numbers for the same time last year.
Eircom said it was 'extremely disappointed' not to be awarded the contract to roll out the National Broadband Scheme. Mobile company 3 was named as the preferred tenderer for the scheme yesterday.
Eircom said that in line with the changing economic climate and consistent with an increased focus on cost reductions, it remains committed to reducing its headcount.
