Almost half the people of the Republic own a mobile phone and the number of mobile lines has surpassed the number of fixed-line telephones for the first time, new figures show.

The latest quarterly survey conducted by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, found that the Republic has the third-fastest growth rate in western Europe in terms of mobile phone subscribers.

Mobile penetration in the market now stands at 49 per cent compared to 45 per cent in March, representing an increase to 1.8 million mobile lines from 1.6 million at the time of the last review.

The survey shows Eircell continues as the largest mobile operator with a reported figure of just over 1.1 million subscribers, bringing its share of the market to approximately 60 per cent. But overall there has been a significant change in the relative market shares of the mobile operators in the last 12 months, with Digifone improving from 33 per cent a year ago to its current market share of 40 per cent. The fixed-line market remained constant at just under 1.59 million lines but there was evidence that greater competition is beginning to take market share from Eircom. Ms Doyle said there was strong evidence to suggest that the market share of new entrants to the market was now in excess of 15 per cent compared to about 10 per cent at the time of the previous review.

However, the Republic still lags behind other markets in terms of the cost of calls.

Total revenues for the fixed, mobile and broadcasting markets are now worth more than £1.85 billion (€2.35 billion) a year, representing a 10 per cent increase on previous estimates.