Irish mobile operator 3 Ireland has admitted overstating subscriber numbers for four years. The local subsidiary of Hong-Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa is now scrambling to make amends with Irish regulator ComReg.
A source close to the…
Irish mobile operator 3 Ireland has admitted overstating subscriber numbers for four years. The local subsidiary of Hong-Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa is now scrambling to make amends with Irish regulator ComReg.
A source close to the regulator told TelecomFinance that it is working with 3 Ireland and expects to publish further information about the incorrect figures as soon as they can be confirmed.
A spokeswoman for 3 Ireland declined to give specific details about the error, but admitted the company had “erroneously provided ComReg with its registered pre-paid subscriber base instead of its pre-paid subscriber base consistent with ComReg’s definition of a pre-paid subscriber”.
She insisted the mistake does not affect 3 Ireland’s market share by revenue.
Prior to these revelations, Hutchison’s own documents showed that its Irish operations had a total of 554,000 registered customers (332,000 prepaid and 220,000 postpaid) as of August 4. Revenue derived from Irish operations for this period was E40.6m (E9bn attributed to prepaid customers and E31.6m to postpaid), representing a 9% increase compared with a year earlier. During the same period LBIT (which Hutch defines as loss before interest expense and finance costs, taxation and minority interests) was down 15% to E19m.
