Smart Telecom posted an €8.27 million pre-tax loss for the year to the end of December 2003 as it expanded aggressively in the business and residential sector.

Full-year results announced yesterday show the new competitor to Eircom added 27,000 customers in 2003 to bring its total subscriber base to about 30,000.

Turnover doubled in 2003 to €12.65 million, up from €6.17 million in the previous 12 months.

But Smart Telecom's rapid expansion caused its cost of sales to increase substantially to €7.79 million in 2003, up from €4.39 million in 2002.

The firm's pre-tax losses more than doubled to €8.27 million in 2003, up from €3.73 million in the previous year. This translates into a loss per share of 21 cents, up from a loss of 13 cents per share.

In a statement to the OFEX exchange in London, where Smart Telecom is listed, company chairman Mr Oisín Fanning said the firm had made very significant progress towards becoming the most significant new player in the Irish telecoms market.

He said Smart would continue to focus on aggressively rolling out a corporate business offering, particularly in the regions. It would also take steps to unbundle Eircom's local telecoms network to offer broadband to small and medium businesses.

But the statement said Smart would not invest heavily in infrastructure because the Government was already building an alternative core Irish network.

Mr Fanning said the firm would be expecting to increase customer numbers now that it had become the first alternative telecoms firm in the Irish market to offer single billing to consumers. This is a product that enables consumers and businesses to receive a single bill for line rental and calls, rather than having to pay a separate bill for line rental to Eircom.

The results show Smart had just €27,528 cash at hand on December 31st, 2003.

Smart Telecom raised €1 million in a share placing last week and drew down €500,000 working capital from an agreement with Skerries Nominees, a firm linked to Goodbody Stockbrokers, which invests in firms on behalf of its private clients.