Earnings at telecoms company Eircom rose by 8 per cent with revenue up 4 per cent at €2.06 billion for the year ended June 30th 2008.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2008 rose €698 million from €647 million for the previous year.
The rise in earnings was helped by a strong performance from the company's mobile division Meteor. Earnings at Meteor were up by 78 per cent at €116 million, as revenues rose by 24 per cent to €481 million due to growth in subscribers and activity.
Total Meteor mobile subscriber numbers totalled 983,000 at the end of June 2008, up 12 per cent from 875,000 last year. Post paid subscribers stood at 123,000, up 23 per cent on June 30th 2007.
Eircom said that the monthly blended mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) was up 4 per cent to €40.20 for the twelve-month period to June 30th 2008 compared to prior year, due to increased subscriber activity and higher proportion of post-pay subscribers.
However, fixed line revenue at the company was flat for the year at €1.6 billion. Fixed line earnings were also unchanged at €582 million for the year.
The company said it was on our target to reduce headcount in its fixed line business by 900 by 2010 through a voluntary redundancy programme. Headcount has fallen by 621 since June 2007, it said.
Broadband subscribers rose by 138,000 to 593,000, a 30 per cent increase over the prior year, it said.
Eircom chief executive Rex Comb said the performance of the group had been very strong against a backdrop of strong competition in all of our markets.