First pre-tax profit for mmO2

British mobile phone group mmO2, owner of O2 Ireland, has reported a strong rise in underlying earnings and an increase of 13% in its customers to 19.2 million in the six months to the end of September.

An independent firm for the last two years, mmO2 reported its first pre-tax profit and a drop in debt to £494m (€706m). This is below the debt level passed on by BT when mmO2 floated on the stock market.