iTouch to expand into new countries

ITouch, the mobile internet portal, yesterday said it was taking the service into new countries, as it reported a pre-tax loss of £9.9m for the first nine months of the year.

ITouch, the mobile internet portal, yesterday said it was taking the service into new countries, as it reported a pre-tax loss of £9.9m for the first nine months of the year.

The company, which is 50 per cent owned by Independent News & Media, the parent company of The Independent, currently has operations in South Africa, Ireland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. It will expand in regions where it has a media partner.

"Group revenues have continued to grow strongly and we expect the trend to continue as new consumer and corporate services are launched and existing services expand," Ivan Fallon, iTouch's chairman, said.

Revenues totalled £2.3m in the period since the launch on 18 January to the end of September, of which £1.2m were earned in the third quarter.

The company said that the average number of corporate messages sent per month on its service increased more than seven-fold in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter.

iTouch said that this reflected new country roll-out, a significant one-off impact from messaging services during the Olympics in Australia and specific promotions by South African business customers.

ITouch shares, which floated at 70p in August, closed unchanged at 62.5p.