GLOBAL depression and harsh trading conditions conspired to deliver the "worst year ever" for the telecommunications industry, according to the head of cable operator ntl.

Barclay Knapp, chairman and chief executive, said economic factors had conspired against everyone in the business, but his operations had fared well considering.

Ntl has just emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after running up debts of £12bn.

The New York company, which operates in the UK and Europe, suffered greatly during the technology and telecoms boom when it rapidly expanded its network, only to see both sectors swiftly contract.

But, reporting fourth quarter and annual results, Mr Knapp said his company had stood up well under the pressure of the past 12 months.

"The results show the resilience of our business in what was easily the worst year ever for the telecoms industry," he said.

"Significantly, we maintained overall revenues in 2002 with a sharply lower capital spend. Coupled with our cost-cutting and efficiency programs, this produced sharply higher earnings and operating cash flow."

Reporting results for the year to December 31, ntl showed a significant improvement in losses before tax of $2.4bn (£1.5bn) after cutting costs in an effort to offset falling subscriber numbers.

Last time, losses before tax were $11.7bn (£7.4bn).

The progress also saw ntl increase underlying earnings before one-off costs to £661m from £446m in 2001.

Sales were broadly unchanged at £2.17bn in 2002.

Ntl, based in Hook, Hampshire, took one-off charges of about £657m in the fourth quarter, due mainly to bankruptcy protection and the cost of the reorganisation.

The company has been concentrating on cutting costs, improving its products and customer services, and focusing capital spending on generating high, near-term cash returns as it dragged itself out of bankruptcy protection.

In its statement, ntl said customer numbers had risen in the first quarter of the year, reversing periods of subscriber declines.

Ntl said churn - which measures the number of people leaving its services including broadband Internet, telephone and digital TV - had been reduced to 13.1 per cent compared with 15.9 per cent in the previous quarter and 17.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2001.