Carphone Warehouse has posted a sixth consecutive quarter of improved revenues, in spite of new customer connections tailing off.

The company said performance was boosted by the popularity of more expensive smart phones with like-for-like revenues for the UK in the third quarter ended December 28, up 5% against a strong comparative the year before when it had climbed 16%. Across the group revenue rose 3.1%.

This was despite the wider pre-pay market shrinking by a worse than expected 25% to 30%. Its own pre-pay connections were down 12.7% while connections with "post-pay" customers on monthly contracts were broadly flat.

The popularity of more expensive devices such as the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy meant that despite the falling numbers, revenues were up.

Carphone said activity was reduced as customers awaited the wide roll-out of new high-speed 4G services across Europe. Full year profit is expected to be between £140m to £160m.