There were as many active mobile phones as there were people in the Republic by the end of September, the latest figures show.

The communications regulator, ComReg, yesterday published figures to show that there were 4.05 million mobile phone subscriptions in the State.

It was the first time that the mobile networks like Vodafone and O2 had captured an effective 100 per cent of the market.

The regulator's quarterly report for the three months to the end of September also show that Irish people are sending between two and three text messages a day from their mobile phones.

"Irish mobile subscribers sent over one billion text messages and over six million multimedia messages in this quarter," ComReg said. Multimedia messages include pictures and video.

Eircom remained the biggest player in the fixed-line market, with a 79 per cent share, ComReg said.

By the end of September, there were 208,500 broadband subscribers in the State, more than three times what it was a year before.

The telecoms market in the Republic was worth €1 billion in the quarter, or €4 billion a year.