Pure Telecom Increases Customer Base by 25%
Pure Telecom surpassed the 40,000 customer mark, after adding more than 10,000 new customers in 2016, the company announced on Thursday. The Irish-owned telecoms provider now has 42,500 customers and is aiming to acquire a customer base of 100,000 in the next three years.
The company’s intends to grow through acquisition of other telecommunications companies, competitive wins and overall market growth, with the landline becoming the preferred mode of internet communications again.
“Last year was our most successful to date,” Pure Telecom Director Paul Connell said. “The Irish telecoms industry is rapidly evolving and we have always made sure that we were at the forefront of that change; allowing us to capitalise on the digital age, rather than lose out. 2017 is going to be another exciting year for the industry and we look forward to celebrating many more successes along the way.”
As a result of Pure Telecom’s 2016 success and its growing position in the industry, below, Paul Connell outlines the company’s ambitious plans for the future and offers his predictions for 2017.
Doubling the company and acquisition
“Our target is to more than double our customer base by year-end 2019. This will be achieved by continuing to have the best competitive offering on the market, while also looking at the selective acquisition of smaller broadband and telecommunications companies, which would allow us the scale to continue to offer the most competitive packages on the market.
“As we move towards the rollout of the National Broadband Plan and as margins continue to tighten in the industry, we expect to see more consolidation. The larger players will look to sweep up smaller broadband and telecoms companies in order to capitalise on increased demand as more premises become connected to fibre. It is going to be all about national scale and reach.”
Consumers to abandon TV licences and paid TV
“It is a good time for the fixed line telecommunications industry. Ireland’s telecoms and broadband market is continuing to grow, with rural Ireland finally starting to benefit from wider availability of high-speed broadband. That has led to the emergence of the international ‘cord cutter’ trend, which sees consumers cutting their cable TV connection in favour of high-speed fixed-line broadband to watch Netflix and other streaming media services. I expect the arrival of Amazon Prime in Ireland will intensify that trend. As a result, we will see pressure coming on the TV licence as people ditch their traditional TV sets.”*
Landlines
“In recent months, 25% of our sales have been new line installations. What we’re seeing is that people are getting landlines to enable high-speed broadband. And, smartphones are actually contributing to this. When people get home, they don’t want to be using their 3G or 4G to surf the internet – they want a WiFi connection from a high quality fixed-line link. We expect this trend to continue into 2017, with the landline making its comeback.”
