* Q4 net loss 73.9 mln riyals vs loss of 126.5 mln riyals ayr ago
* Full-year net loss 401 mln riyals vs loss of 486 mlnriyals a yr earlier
* Company's share of Qatar's mobile revenue 27.4 pct, upfrom 24.5 pct a yr earlier
* Mobile subscriber base rises 30 pct to 1.08 million
By Matt Smith
DUBAI, June 3 (Reuters) - Vodafone Qatar, anaffiliate of Britain's Vodafone Group, reported asmaller-than-expected fourth-quarter loss on Monday as itssubscriber base rose by nearly a third and revenue increased.
Vodafone, which ended Ooredoo's (Qatar Telecom)domestic monopoly in 2009, made a fourth-quarter net loss of73.9 million riyals in the three months to March 31, accordingto Reuters calculations.
That compares with a loss of 126.5 million riyals in theyear-earlier period. The operator's financial year starts onApril 1.
Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast Vodafone Qatar wouldmake a quarterly loss of between 80 million riyals and 91million riyals.
Vodafone Qatar's full-year net loss was 401 million riyals,smaller than the previous year's loss of 486 million riyals.
Quarterly revenue was 435.6 million riyals, up from 315.7million riyals a year ago, while annual revenue rose 25 percentto 1.53 billion riyals.
This gave the company a 27.4 percent share of Qatar's mobilerevenues, up from 24.5 percent a year earlier.
Vodafone, which owns 23 percent of Vodafone Qatar, inNovember extended a contract to manage its Qatari affiliateuntil 2018.
Vodafone had 1.08 million mobile customers as of March 31, upfrom 837,000 a year earlier.
Full-year average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric forthe telecom sector, was 121 riyals, up 8 percent year-on-year.