3, the UK mobile phone operator, managed to reduce losses last year to £841m but this was due in part to its parent company waiving interest payments on loans.

The mobile phone group’s revenues increased 30 per cent to £1.4bn in the year to December 31, as it focused on signing up mobile customers on monthly contracts rather than cheap pay-as-you-go deals. The pre-tax loss of £840.7m compared with a deficit of £1.4bn in 2005.