Terra Lycos on winding path to profitability

Spanish-owned ISP and portal Terra Lycos is still on target for profitability thanks to an increase in the number of its customers paying for internet access.

The company has reported a 17 per cent increase in the number of paying customers with Q2 revenues up 34 per cent on the comparable quarter last year, to E180m (£110m).

The company is owned by Telefonica, Spain's largest ISP. It attributes 62 per cent of its Q2 income to its media business and 38 per cent to internet access provision.

Declining losses will help the company reach its intended target for profitably of the second quarter of next year. This quarter's losses before for tax stood at E65m (£40m), down from E69m (£42m) last year.

The company has started to phase out free internet access also as part of its bid to reach its profitability targets.