Virgin Media increases quad-play penetration

Ten per cent of Virgin Media’s customers now take quad-play services.

The cable operator reported a total of 12.853 million RGUs during the third quarter, up from 12.224 million a year earlier. By the end of September, 10.1% of customers took four services.

The operator saw increases in the number of TV subscribers, up 37,000 on the previous quarter to 3.7 million compared with 3.6 million a year earlier. The average monthly reach of its video-on-demand service increased to 55% from 49% a year earlier and the service recorded the highest ever average monthly views during the third quarter, reaching 66 million. Virgin Media added 80,800 V Plus HD DVR subscribers during the quarter to reach an installed base of 749,300. This represents a penetration level of 21% of digital subscribers, which, the operator said, leaves ‘significant further up-sell opportunities’.

In broadband, net additions during the quarter were 39,000, taking the total to 3.8 million customers. The operator’s plan of focussing on up-selling its higher speed broadband packages has paid off. The number of 20Mbps and 50Mbps broadband customers increased 40% to 503,500 during the 12 months to the end of September. At the quarter-end, 72% of broadband customers subscribed to a 10Mbps tier or higher.

Telephony net additions for the quarter were 16,000, taking the total to 4.1 million.

Virgin Media reported total third-quarter revenue of £953m (€1bn), up from £941m a year earlier. Operating income was down to £50.2m from £53.3m a year earlier but up from £15.2m during the previous quarter. On-net ARPU increased 5.3% year-on-year to £44.24, while churn remained flat at 1.5%.