Three Ireland increases its customer base by 500,000 in 2021

Three Ireland said it increased its active customer base to 3.1 million in 2021, a rise of 500,00 over the year.

However, a decline in roaming revenues and an increase in operating expenses and regulatory costs saw the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fall 4 per cent to €188 million.

The operator has continued to invest in the business, with capital expenditure of €114 million during 2021. Some €86 million of this was in its network, bringing the total amount the company committed to its network since 2015 to €628 million.

Chief financial officer Simon Henry said the financial performance was in line with projections. "Margin remained strong despite the full year impact of roaming income reduction and further regulatory cost increases, with overall revenue reduction of 2 per cent to €579 million from €593 million in 2020 with a gross margin reduction of 1 per cent to €445 million from €448 million in 2020," he said.

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The gains the company has made in subscribers means it now claims a market share of almost 40 per cent, putting it ahead of Vodafone at almost 36 per cent. That figure includes mobile broadband and machine to machine subscriptions; when those services were excluded, figures from ComReg showed Three Ireland was second to Vodafone, at 30 per cent to its rival's 35.5 per cent.

"In 2021 we delivered a 20 per cent growth in our active customer base of 500,000 to 3.1 million compared to 2020, making us the largest mobile telecommunications provider in Ireland," said Robert Finnegan, chief executive of Three Ireland and Three UK.

“One of Three Ireland’s main priorities is investing €100 million annually into our network to ensure a reliable service for our customers. With this commitment, we have significantly increased our coverage around Ireland, with nearly one million homes now connected with 5G broadband.”