iiNet aims to be third biggest player

Internet service provider iiNet Ltd says it wants to double its market share to become the third biggest player in the broadband market.

iiNet said on Wednesday that strong subscriber growth had driven its first half net profit to $11.4 million, up 50 per cent on $7.6 million in the previous corresponding period.

Revenue for the six months to December 31 was $205 million, up 75 per cent on $117.1 million in the previous corresponding period.

The Naked DSL product had been a key driver of subscriber growth, the company said, bringing its total number of customers to 723,000.

iiNet managing director Michael Malone said the company was on track to achieve its full year forecast of at least $400 million in revenue.

He said the company had an aggressive target of doubling its market share to 15 per cent over the next five years.

"We regard 15 per cent as a number that we need in order to be a viable number three in this market," Mr Malone told analysts.

Telstra holds around 50 per cent of market share, while Optus accounts for 15 per cent, he said.

"We intend to, by organic and inorganic methods, try to see if we can approximately double our market share over the next five years. It's a fairly aggressive target for us," Mr Malone said.

More than 70 per cent of iiNet customers were attracted from competing internet providers, meaning the company could continue market share growth even at the point of saturation, he said.

iiNet declared a fully franked interim dividend of three cents per share. At 1336 AEDT iiNet shares were up six cents to $1.20.