At last it looks as if there's some mileage in the convergence story that has been going the rounds of the telecom industry for the past six years or so. Italian Ethernet service provider FastWeb SpA has added another 40,000 new customers over the summer, and continues to boost its revenues and margins (see eBiscom Records Record Growth).

FastWeb's parent company eBiscom SpA today announced "consolidated revenues" (not just for FastWeb) of €150 million, up from €135.6 million in the second quarter, while third-quarter EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) was €34 million, up from €23.1 million in the previous three months. (One Euro equals about US$1.18 today) FastWeb's subscriber base now stands at 290,000.

eBiscom declined to break out specific third-quarter numbers for FastWeb, though it stated that the consolidated figures included €25 million in revenues and more than €4 million in EBITDA from HanseNet, the German service provider eBiscom recently sold to incumbent service provider Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) (see Italians Invade Germany). This means FastWeb's revenues were €125 million at the most.

Things will become clearer on November 12 when the company announces its full details for the third quarter and the first nine months combined.

Read more on Boardwatch.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Editor, Boardwatch