iiNet Monday gave itself a big pat on the back as it announced a 50 percent increase in after-tax profits for the year ending 30 June 2008.

Australia’s third largest ISP pocketed $17.8 million out of a total revenue of $251.2 million (up 9 percent), claiming that product innovation and collaborative content offerings were strong drivers of the growth.

iiNet MD Michael Malone said high uptake of Naked DSL offerings - more than 30,000 subscribers - was a major player among the services that contributed to the ISP's positive pecuniary growth.

He also cited ABC’s iView, major golf tournament highlights, iTunes, NASA TV, Internet radio and Barclays English Premier League games as examples of innovative services contributing to strong financial results.

The acquisition of Westnet in May 2008 in addition to more than 30 other ISPs have also been leveraged to deliver growth, he said. Westnet will continue to run independently under its own brand, targeting different market segments and geographies.

He said the Naked service is also maximizing its ‘on-net’ advantage by increasing the number of customers using its own network and “attacking the telephony revenues of the traditional carriers”.

“Our ‘on-net’ growth was in excess of 27 percent with the Average Monthly Revenue Per User for these customers being $50.40 and delivering the highest margin.”

Malone said the National Broadband Network as a great opportunity for iiNet “if the pre-election commitments are fulfilled”.

“The open-access NBN will open up market opportunities dramatically, increase customer choice, enable iiNet to access 100 percent of the market and deliver our innovative products and services to customers.”