Meteor attracted 24,600 new customers in the pre-Christmas period, pushing its user base past 180,000, US parent group Western Wireless announced yesterday.
The mobile phone operator said the success of its free SMS service, which allows users text other numbers on its network for no charge, had contributed to its increased market share.
The company, which holds about 4 per cent of the mobile market, aggressively marketed the promotion through 2003, in addition to expanding its network to cover 85 per cent of the population, said a spokesman. More than 90 per cent of customers are pre-pay users. The spokesman declined to say whether Meteor was now turning a profit.
Western Wireless revenues rose to $413.6 million (€323.7 million) in the final quarter of 2003, up 36 per cent on the same period a year earlier, it said yesterday. Net profits were just over $2 million, compared to a $23 million loss in the same quarter of 2002.
Chief executive Mr John Stanton said the Seattle group's overseas operations had fuelled the surge back to profit.
He said: "Our consolidated international operations continue to demonstrate outstanding progress. Internationally, we added more customers in the fourth quarter than any quarter in our history, and added over 450,000 customers this year."
Meteor, the State's third mobile phone firm, cut its pre-tax loss to €32 million in 2002, down from €71.7 million the previous year, according to the most recently available financial data.
Strong revenue growth and a dramatic fall in capital expenditure helped the firm.
But Meteor remains a minnow compared to its main rivals Vodafone and O2, which together generated sales of more than €1.5 billion in the Republic in 2002.
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