Openet Telecom, a Dublin-based software company, has made 18 staff redundant at its operations in the Republic as part of a restructuring, the firm said yesterday.

The company, which employs more than 100 staff in Dublin, London and San Francisco, said the redundancies would take place on a company-wide basis to ensure profitability in the future.

The redundancies follow a spate of lay-offs this year at private Irish software firms, which have seen revenues fall due to the continued economic downturn.

The firm said revenues for the financial year 2002 were lower than anticipated but revenues for the current period have increased by more than 50 per cent on the corresponding period last year.

"Board and management are confident of achieving pre-set revenue and profitability targets, and have an optimistic view on the company's outlook going forward," it said in a statement.

Openet, which recently closed a funding round worth $15 million (€14.7 million) led by Orange Ventures, said it might also recruit more staff in the US and Europe to rebalance its operations.

The Dublin-based company recently received a boost from the Orange wireless group, which has decided to adopt Openet software products across its operations.

Openet develops billing software for mobile phone operators and was the first Irish company to receive funding from Benchmark Capital, the US firm that has opened a European venture capital arm.