Mobile phone company Three Ireland said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% to €217m last year, despite the challenging environment due to Covid-19.
Three said its total active customer base increased by 8% to 2.6 million from 2.4 million in 2019, bringing its market share up to 36.7%.
It said that Covid-19 travel restrictions resulted in a decrease in its roaming revenue in the second half of 2020, leading to an overall revenue reduction of 2% to €593m from €603m in 2019.
Three Ireland said it continued to invest in its network with a spend of €103m last year despite the pandemic, bringing the total amount the company committed to its network since 2015 to €550m.
Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three Ireland and Three UK, said the company kept its customers connected during the pandemic, as they relied on mobile connectivity for home schooling, remote working, entertainment and staying in touch with loved ones.
"Covid-19 presented new challenges for all parts of Irish society and we were delighted to play our role in implementing a number of supports including delivering 10,000 free SIM cards to school children across Ireland and "zero rating" health and educational websites for all customers," he added.
Mr Finnegan said that despite the difficult environment, Three was the first mobile operator in Ireland to rollout 5G in every county to both bill pay and prepay customers in 2020.
"Three's continued investment in its network has seen us verified by Ookla as the fastest mobile network in Ireland," he said.
"While the closure of retail for a number of months in 2020 raised a new set of challenges, we are pleased to be able to deliver year on year EBITDA growth of 3% to €217m," he added.
