John Farrelly, general manager, SAS Ireland, eircom Group CEO, Herb Hribar and Ian Hyland, publisher, Business & Finance.
eVision, eircom’s new TV service, means Irish consumers can now avail of all their entertainment and communications needs from one of Ireland’s most established brands.
eVision, eircom’s new TV service, has been introduced to the Irish market offering a range of the most popular channels in Ireland at competitive prices and with a variety of packages containing add-on services including HD channels, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Setanta Sports.
The new TV service will be delivered through eFibre, eircom’s superfast fibre broadband service and represents greater choice for Irish customers, offering – landline, broadband, mobile and television – from one Irish provider, for the very first time.
Herb Hribar, CEO, eircom Group, said: “eVision is a game changer for eircom. Consumers in Ireland are paying too much for TV. We are changing that by delivering the most attractive offer in the market. We’ve listened to our customers and we are giving them exactly what they are looking for – a great value viewing experience. This is just one more example of eircom delivering on its commitment to enable the ‘always on experience’ with great content, superfast fibre broadband at home, 4G and wireless hotspots on the move. No other company can deliver on this promise.”
Kevin White, managing director, eircom consumer, added: “eVision will fundamentally change the television landscape in Ireland; offering all consumers an exciting new TV service at an unprecedented price – representing not just real choice, but real value for money, for the very first time … eVision is a huge milestone not just for eircom, but for Irish consumers. Our eVision team know what Irish people love and what they want from their television. Our eVision offering delivers just that – giving consumers the television they want, when they want, how they want and now at a price they want.”
Progressive results
Recently eircom Group also announced results for the fourth quarter and full year through to June 2013, which shows progress and a stablising of its bottom line as measures of cost transformation take effect.
According to the latest released figures for the full year results to June, eircom has seen business performance stabilising with consecutive quarters of EBITDA growth. The results also show that Group revenue was down 8% for the year and EBITDA was down 10%. In addition, the results reveal 6% operating cost savings over 12 months and Q4 operating costs down 9%.
The report also details eircom’s success being the first to market in Ireland for 4G mobile services and an increase in customer base.
Commenting on the results, Herb Hribar said: “We have made continued progress during the year on a number of key issues that have helped us to stabilise our bottom line EBITDA performance and to come in ahead of our plan. The launch of our super-fast fibre broadband network and our achievement of becoming the first operator in Ireland to offer 4G mobile services, demonstrate how eircom continues to deliver on its commitments during the past 12 months. We now have an infrastructure that supports superfast broadband across fixed and mobile platforms and our infrastructure roll-out continues at pace across Ireland. We also have a systems capability that allows eircom to deliver innovative new products that, when bundled together, provide an attractive and powerful customer proposition that offers real value.
“The cost transformation programme is on track and, despite an increase in competitive intensity during the year, we have made progress in reducing our fixed line losses and improving mobile profitability over the past year. However, significant challenges remain and eircom is committed to addressing many of those challenges in the coming 12 months.
“We remain fully committed to our strategic investment in infrastructure to build a network for a nation that supports superfast broadband and data services for all our customer segments. Our fibre network passed 475,000 homes and businesses at the end of June 2013 and remains on track to pass 600,000 premises by the end of December. Early next year, customers will be able to access speeds of up to 100Mb per second.”
About the CEO
Herb Hribar has been CEO and executive director of eircom Group since September 2012.
Hribar brings extensive operational experience in the telecommunications and TV industries both in the US and Europe. Hribar previously served as managing director for Wholesale/Networks for eircom from 2002-2004.
He was also the president of Ameritech Wireless in the US, managing director of Kabel Deutschland, one of Europe’s largest cable operator and COO of Cablecom in Switzerland.
Most recently, he served as the CEO of the Ethernet exchange operator CENX.
He holds three Master Degrees, the first in computer science from John Hopkins University, the second, in business administration from George Washington University and the third in civil engineering from the University of Illinois.
In addition to his extensive career in the telecommunication industry, Hribar served for nine years as an officer in the US Navy where he graduated from the US Naval Academy with a BSc in Ocean Engineering.
Business & Finance, Company of the Month
Business & Finance, in association with SAS Ireland, recognises excellence in business through the ‘Company of the Month’ award. The Company of the Month award recognises the company which best demonstrates outstanding business leadership, sustainable growth, innovative strategy, strong financial returns and employee development.
