Mobile phone penetration has now risen to 94 per cent with 3.78 million subscribers in the Republic, according to new figures.

The figures, compiled by ComReg, the telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, found that prepaid customers account for 75 per cent of all mobile users, while contract customers account for 25 per cent of the overall subscriber base.

The figures contained in ComReg's latest quarterly report to the end of 2004, show that mobile revenue for the quarter was €486 million, an increase of 13 per cent on the previous three-month period.

In terms of market share, the figures show that Vodafone now has 51 per cent of the market, down 2 per cent from the previous quarter. 02 is unchanged with 40 per cent of the market while Meteor has 9 per cent, up 2 per cent from the previous quarter. However, all operators increased their subscriber base in the last three months of 2004.

Text messaging increased by 10 per cent from the previous quarter, with the average subscriber now sending 89 text messages per month.

Taken over one year, text messaging increased by 22 per cent. However, ComReg said that this was due in part to seasonal factors such as the Christmas period.

Christmas may also have played a role in the increase in mobile phone penetration, as many phones are given as presents at this time.

The figures also show that around 236,000 subscribers had swopped their number to another service.

The ComReg report shows there were approximately 131,550 broadband subscribers at the end of 2004, an increase of 40 per cent on the previous quarter.

When combined with revenues from broadcasting services (ie television services), total revenue was around €4 billion per annum. This represents an increase of around 5.85 per cent on the last quarter, driven mainly by the mobile market, according to ComReg.