Revenue at BT Ireland rose in the third quarter, as the company continued to build on its core business here.

The firm, which today reported results for the wider BT Group, said underlying revenue (excluding transit revenue) grew by 3 per cent over the quarter ending December 31st 2013.

BT Ireland, which announced in December it had secured a major new contract with the Ardagh Group covering five years, said growth in its wholesale division was supported by the renewal of existing contracts with customers such as Colt Technology Services and new business.

Chief executive Colm O’Neill said the results reflected a positive quarter for the Irish business.

“We are continuing to challenge and succeed in the Republic of Ireland market by offering a unique IT services capability that is underpinned by our world class global network,” he said.

“On the wholesale side of our business, our extensive network investment continues to attract other communication service providers, enabling them to offer leading-edge fibre broadband technology to their customers.”

Meanwhile, the BT Group reported higher revenues and profits for the quarter, with revenue rising by 2 per cent and adjusted pretax profit rising 8 per cent. Earnings per share rose by 12 per cent in the period.

Chief executive of the group Gavin Patterson said the figures were “encouraging”.

“Our strategic investments are delivering,” he said. “It was another record quarter for fibre take-up and there are now more than 18 million premises with access to our fibre.”

The company predicted its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation would be at the upper end of the £6 billion to £6.1 billion range.