Eircom
eircom
is the principal provider of fixed-line telecommunications services in
Ireland with approximately 2.2 million fixed-line telephone access channels
in service. Our mobile division, Meteor, which was acquired on November
23, 2005, is the third largest mobile operator in Ireland. As at June
30, 2006, Meteor had approximately 683,000 mobile subscribers, which includes
approximately 5,000 eircom customers. Further details of Meteor are available
on their website www.meteor.ie. We had turnover of approximately 1.7 billion
in the financial year ended March 31, 2006 and 483 million in the quarter
ended June 30, 2006 and EBITDA of 567 million in the financial year ended
March 31, 2006 and 161 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2006.
Fixed-line
services:
We are the principal provider of fixed-line telecommunications services
in Ireland. According to quarterly data published by ComReg, we had a
76% market share of the Irish fixed-line market in the quarter ended March
31, 2006, based on turnover. As the incumbent fixed-line telecommunications
provider, we have the most extensive fixed-line telecommunications network
in Ireland in terms of both capacity and geographic reach, and our competitors
rely heavily on our infrastructure.
As of June 30, 2006, we had approximately 2.2 million fixed-line access channels in service, of which approximately 1.6 million were public switched telephone network ("PSTN") lines and approximately 0.4 million were integrated services digital network ("ISDN") channels. As of June 30, 2006, approximately 260,000 PSTN lines, which were enabled for simultaneous support of PSTN and asymmetrical digital subscriber line ("ADSL") bitstream, permitting simultaneous, high-speed transmission of voice and data over our network, had been taken up by retail and wholesale customers. We are also the leading internet service provider ("ISP") in Ireland with approximately 668,000 customers, of which 195,000 were broadband customers, as of June 30, 2006.
We offer residential and business customers a wide range of retail services and products, including:
- fixed-line voice services , including PSTN and ISDN access; local, national and international voice services; advanced voice services; and Voice over IP (VoIP'') services;
- fixed-line data services , including domestic and international data transmission services, such as ADSL; leased lines and advanced data packet based services, including Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM''), frame relay and internet protocol (IP'') services; managed data networking services; hosting and internet access and related information technology services; and
- other services , including customer premises equipment sales; public payphones; sale and monitoring of domestic alarm systems and directory enquiries. We also offer other authorised operators (OAOs'') wholesale services and products, including:
- interconnect services; leased lines; partial private circuits; access to our local connection network via unbundled local loops; and ADSL Bitstream access, which supports broadband access;
- carrier pre-selection, which permits customers to select another OAO as the default carrier for some or all calls, and enhancements to carrier pre-selection, including carrier pre-selection single billing through Wholesale Line Rental (WLR''), carrier pre-selection agency re-billing and carrier pre-selection single billing through WLR ancillary services, which enable OAOs to provide a fuller range of services;
- geographic and non-geographic number portability, which allows customers to keep their telephone numbers regardless of the authorised operator they choose; and
- Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination (FRIACO''), allowing OAOs to offer bundled or unmetered internet access.
Mobile
services (Meteor)
Meteor is the third largest mobile operator in Ireland in terms of subscribers.
As at June 30, 2006, Meteor had approximately 683,000 mobile subscribers,
a subscriber base which has increased by approximately 34% since we acquired
Meteor in November 2005. Meteor had a share of approximately 15% of the
Irish mobile market, based on number of subscribers, as at March 31, 2006.
This compares with approximately 10%, based on number of subscribers,
as at March 31, 2005.
Meteor was incorporated on March 26, 1998 under the laws of Ireland. In June 1998, Meteor tendered in a competitive process to become Ireland's third mobile phone operator. Meteor was awarded its global system for mobile communications (GSM'') licence in June 2000, and it launched GSM services in February 2001. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS'') services were commercially launched in October 2003. Meteor was acquired by eircom in November 2005.
CPM
CPM was established in 1936 and our pedigree lies in Field Marketing although we now also offer a comprehensive number of contact solutions for our clients, both within the retail sector and direct to their end consumers.
CPM has undergone phenomenal growth since our founding in 1936. We invented 'Field Marketing' as it became known and are still leaders in this industry. The original objectives of the business were to ensure products were available for people to buy. Things have moved on and now CPM provide cutting edge customer contact solutions at both consumer and business levels.
Established in 1985, initially to facilitate the Mars account from the UK, CPM Ireland has since grown and diversified into the leading name in field marketing in Ireland today. Not limiting ourselves to outsourced sales and merchandising in the FMCG sector we have recognised that the field marketing concept is opening up to new categories such as telecommunications, financial services, IT and business to business sectors.