Virgin Media dials up fresh growth to net 7,000 new customers

Published on Tuesday 5 May 2009 22:19

VIRGIN Media showed further growth yesterday after revealing that it added 7,100 new customers in the first three months of the year.

The figure, which compared with net additions of 4,900 a year ago, was better than market expectations as Virgin Media began 2009 with a "quarter of sound operational and financial performance".

Virgin added that a record 57 per cent of its customers now took all three of its services – broadband, television and telephony – up from 51.3 per cent in 2008. Churn, the rate at which customers leave the service, dropped to a record low of 1.1 per cent.

The firm also said that its on-demand service enjoyed a record quarter following the addition of new content from ITV.

On a monthly basis, 1.9 million of its digital television customers now use video on demand, with average monthly views of 55 million in the quarter representing a rise of 51 per cent on a year earlier.

Viewers catching up on programmes such as Coronation Street and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway meant the ITV Player enjoyed four million on-demand views in its first full month on Virgin Media's platform.

The group reported operating income of 13 million for the quarter, up from a loss of 2m a year earlier.

It said its total number of broadband additions stood at 47,300 in the first quarter of this year, compared with 57,100 in the previous quarter. Virgin said this reflected slower growth in the market as a whole and its own focus on higher revenue services offering faster broadband speeds.

The company reported 3.73 million broadband customers at the end of the period. The number of contract mobile customers increased by 62,900 to 712,300, compared with a gain of 59,400 a year earlier.