Unitymedia supports Liberty growth

Liberty Global has continued to grow in 2011, adding over 250,000 RGUs in the first quarter.

Western Europe proved particularly fruitful, with 201,000 customer gains. Liberty’s German operator Unitymedia had a successful quarter, adding 109,000 RGUs during the three months ending March 31. Aside from Germany, Liberty Global saw strong performances from The Netherlands with 33,700 RGU additions and Ireland with 26,200 additions. In Eastern Europe, UPC Poland and UPC Hungary each added just over 19,000 RGUs.

Some markets didn’t fare so well, with UPC Romania losing 11,500 RGUs in the quarter, and in Czech Republic there were 4,500 fewer DTH RGUs at the end of March. Overall, Liberty Global’s DTH platforms, which operate in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic and Slovakia, added 15,500 RGUs.

“Our first quarter results demonstrate continued momentum in subscriber growth along with [a] solid financial performance to begin the year,” said Mike Fries, Liberty Global president and CEO. “We added over 250,000 subscribers in Q1, led by our Western European operations and, in particular, Unitymedia in Germany, which delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of improved volume growth since we purchased the business. From a product perspective we are seeing strong growth in our digital cable business with 289,000 subscriber additions during the quarter.”    

Liberty Global’s UPC Broadband division posted revenues of €1,457 million, up from €1,723 million a year earlier. Revenues from Belgian operator Telenet, which is not included in UPC Broadband figures, increased by €14.3 million to €454.3 million. 

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