UPDATE 1-Brazil's Net Servicos posts profit; new users rise

* Q4 profit 305.8 mln reais

* Cable TV, Internet clients jump 27 pct, pushing sales

* To spend 1.2 bln reais in 2010

* Shares rise 1 pct (Recasts; adds byline, context, share rise)

By Elzio Barreto and Guillermo Parra-Bernal

SAO PAULO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Net Servicos de Comunicacao SA (NETC4.SA) NETC.N, Brazil's largest cable services provider, posted a fourth-quarter profit of 305.8 million reais ($165.3 million) on Wednesday, reversing losses a year earlier, as revenue surged because of an increase in new users.

Cable television clients rose 20 percent from a year earlier to 3.69 million, while broadband Internet subscribers surged 30 percent to 2.88 million, the company said.

Net Servicos' total client base, which includes cable, Internet and voice-service users, jumped to 10.12 million from 7.98 million a year earlier. The gain in new customers helped push net sales up 21 percent to 1.23 billion reais.

The results underscore the resilience of Brazil's consumer demand, which last year helped pull the economy out of its first recession in 17 years.

Net said it is directing most investment toward capturing more customers, signaling it sees room for subscription growth in TV, Internet and phone services -- the so-called triple package.

"This expansion shows that Net's current growth strategy has proved to be right, once again, because of the reality in Brazil's market, which still shows a low level of penetration," the company said in a securities filing.

A decline in the benchmark overnight lending rate Selic in Brazil helped pull nonoperating revenue down, Net said, because returns on the company's investments fell. However, a gain in the currency, the real, last year slashed Net's debt servicing costs, helping it post a financial surplus of 65.4 million reais for 2009.

The company plans to spend 1.2 billion reais in 2010, with 1 billion reais of that total going to maintenance and to boost its network capacity. Net Servicos plans to spend another 200 million reais to expand into new regions.

The 2010 investments will be funded with cash holdings, the company said.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, Net Servicos posted a net loss of 75.6 million reais. It reported its results under international financial reporting standards.

Fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- a measure of cash flow known as EBITDA -- rose to 347.9 million reais from 274.5 million reais.

Net Servicos shares rose 1 percent to 22.07 reais on Wednesday.

The company is co-owned by Brazil's Organizacoes Globo, Latin America's largest media group, and Mexican telecommunications giant Telefonos de Mexico (TELMEXL.MX) TMX.N. ($1=1.85 reais) (Reporting by Elzio Barreto and Guillermo Parra-Bernal; editing by John Wallace)