Virgin Mobile to be profitable this year

Virgin Mobile, the UK's fifth largest mobile network operator, has indicated to its bankers that EBITDA profit - earnings which don't take into account interest, tax and other factors - could be achieved by the end of 2002, according to this morning's FT.

Losses for 2001 were £35.7m, down from £91.7m for the previous year.

The news is a further boost to the venture, which uses T-Mobile's UK network to operate as a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO.

A similar move is now expected in the US, working with Sprint PCS, and follows similar arrangements in other parts of the world.

Virgin Mobile expects to register over two million customers by the end of this year in the UK, putting it respectably close to the numbers of the established network operators.