Telecoms company eir has reported third quarter results which were in line with its expectations as it said that it plans to continue to make significant investments in its infrastructure.
Eir said its underlying revenue for the three months to the end of September dipped by 1% to €293m.
It noted that revenue growth in postpay, National Broadband Plan access and bundling, as well as the addition of revenues from Evros was offset by a reduction in traditional access, traffic, content and other mobile revenue.
The company reported underlying EBITDA of €139m, which was was flat year on year, while operating costs of €100m decreased by 2% on an annual basis.
It said its broadband base totalled 957,000 customers at the end of the quarter, down 1% or 10,000 compared to the same time last year, on the back of a decline in wholesale customers of 1% or 6,000.
But customers using fibre broadband services totalled 840,000 at the end of September, which marked an increase of 2% or 17,000 customers.
Eir said that 2 million premises are now passed by its fibre network, or 88% of premises in Ireland.
925,000 premises are now passed with fibre to the home broadband services across Ireland, up 29% on last year, it added.
Meanwhile, eir's mobile base stood at 1.295 milllion customers at the end of September, an increase of 7% or 89,000 year on year.
Its postpay base increased by 10% or 91,000 subscribers year on year and Eir said its postpay subscribers now represent 74% of the total mobile base, a marginall increase on last year.
Eir chief executive Oliver Loomes said that 2022 continued to be a solid year for the company as it builds on its strategy to provide Ireland with world-class future-proofed connectivity infrastructure.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has so fundamentally changed how we live and work and enabling our customers to stay connected wherever they choose to live, work, learn and entertain is our number one priority," Mr Loomes said.
He said the the company is looking forward to hitting the one million milestone of FTTH network rollout early next year.
"Eir has and will continue to make significant investments in our infrastructure, we invest €250m annually to ensure we have world-class technologies and the highest-quality connectivity available to our customers," the CEO said.
"Enhanced technologies like eir's 5G network is now available in 510 towns and cities across Ireland and the roll out of our 5G network will continue bringing ultrafast data speeds to even more homes and businesses," he said.
Mr Loome also said the company's future focus includes plans to install a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers in partnership with EasyGo.
So far it has committed to delivering more than 70 installs through partnerships with eight county councils.
"The rapid EV charging units are replacing unused eir payphone kiosks and are an excellent example of the extent to which eir has evolved, and continues to transform to meet the changing needs of our society," Mr Loome said.
