Three Ireland delivers 18% increase in EBITDA in 2018

Ongoing network investment results in 98% population coverage for 4G.
Three increases market share to 35.1%.

21st March 2019: Three Ireland’s full year results for 2018 reflect a strong performance for the year, with an 18% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to €200 million based on total revenue of €591 million. Three also delivered an increase of 7% in its active customer base, up to 2.2million, bringing market share up from 34.2% in 2017 to 35.1% in 2018.

Three continued to invest heavily in its network last year with Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of €118m resulting in 98% population coverage for 4G. 2018 saw a 52% increase in mobile data volumes with over 38 terabytes of data going through Three’s network every hour, the equivalent of 1.9 billion WhatsApp messages every 60 minutes. As a result, Three retains its position as Ireland’s leading data network, carrying more mobile data than all other operators combined.

The impact of changes to EU roaming regulation and mobile termination rates contributed to a 2% decrease in revenue.

Three has now substantially achieved the operating expense synergy of €103 million targeted at the time of the acquisition of O2 in 2014.

Commenting on the results, Robert Finnegan, CEO, Three Ireland said: “These full year results are in line with our expectations and demonstrate a strong performance for 2018 with an 18% and 6% increase in EBITDA and EBIT on the back of a 7% increase in our customer base. During the year we continued to invest heavily in our network to further enhance our customers’ experience with Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of €118m.

“We are now exiting our integration phase with the lowest churn in the market. This year we’re focused on building on 2018’s market share growth and completing our digital transformation, as well as trialling 5G in the coming months, with roll-out commencing later this year.

He added “Our commitment to Ireland is supported by our parent group CK Hutchison Holdings, who reported strong figures for 2018 today with revenue growth of 9% year on year and EBITDA and EBIT growth of 9% and 8% respectively.”