mmO2 plans a boom year

And shrugs off Tetra worries

BT mobile offshoot mmO2 predicts that it will show its heels to UK rivals and grow revenues in the UK by 15 per cent this year despite intense competition.

And part of the boost will be from its rollout of O2 Airwave – the new emergency services' combined radio, mobile phone and data network. Green MEPs early this week called for a ban on the erection of Tetra masts – the foundation of the new network – for health reasons.

Late today, Airwave issued a statement to the effect that there was no evidence that Tetra was harmful to human health; that it was already in use in the UK; and that some 350 networks exist in 55 countries around the world.

Earlier, it said that 50,000 police had turned in their old radios and switched to the network and that 100,000 police would have done so by the end of the year.

Overall, O2 expects to grow revenues by eight per cent in spite of its loss of £50m worth of termination fees. Last year, now-defunct regulator Oftel ruled that mobile operators would have to cut charges to users terminating calls on rival networks.

The company said it also expects its loss-making German subsidiary to improve strongly.

mmO2 has 13 million customers in the UK and another seven million in the UK and Ireland. The fourth largest operator saw its share peak last month on rumours that it was to be taken over by Dutch operator KPN.