The State's third mobile phone firm Meteor cut its pre-tax loss to €32 million in 2002, down from €71.7 million in the previous year.

Strong revenue growth and a dramatic fall in capital expenditure helped the firm, which holds about a 4 per cent of the Irish market.

Results filed with the Company's Registration Office yesterday show Meteor tripled sales last year achieving turnover of €45.5 million, up from €13.5 million in the previous 12 months.

Strong sales growth during 2002 when compared to 2001 reflects the fact that Meteor only launched a service in February 2001. For much of its first year it had few mobile customers.

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.

Meteor's cost of sales rose to €47.9 million in 2002, up from €39.3 million in the previous year.

The 2001 figure included an expensive marketing budget associated with Meteor's high profile launch in April 2001.

But the results show a fall in capital expenditure, which fell to €10.8 million in 2002 from €46 million in 2001, helping the firm to cut its losses.

Meteor's capital expenditure in 2000 was €55 million, some of which reflects equipment bought before construction work began in certain areas. The firm has spent almost €130 million on its mobile phone network.

The slowdown in Meteor's network construction plans also helped it to cut staffing costs to €15.8 million in 2002, down from €17.5 million in the previous 12 months. Average staff numbers fell from 364 during 2001 to about 307 in 2002.

Meteor claims to offer mobile coverage to about 87 per cent of the State's population.

But it has not yet built its network into Co Donegal. A breakdown of the firm's operating costs shows it took a €15.8 million charge related to depreciation in 2002, up from €9.2 million in the previous year.

Its balance sheet also notes a foreign exchange loss of €13.4 million in 2002, probably reflecting the euro's strength during the year compared to the dollar.

Meteor incurred interest charges of €7.3 million on loans from its US parent firm Western Wireless in 2002. It owes Western Wireless €94 million.

The firm's results also show that Meteor carried forward a loss of €113.9 million at the end of 2002, compared to a loss of €81.8 million in the previous year.

A note in the accounts also shows the cost of its mobile licence was reduced by €1.2 million following recovery of costs from a court action. This refers to legal costs incurred by Meteor at the time of Orange's unsuccessful challenge to the telecoms regulator's original decision to award Meteor a licence.

Western Wireless owns about 80 per cent of Meteor, while the remainder is held by companies associated with the international financier Mr George Soros.