Virgin Media UK Top 4.41 Million Broadband ISP Subscribers in Q3 2012

Cable operator Virgin Media UK has today released its latest quarterly results (Q3-2012), which saw their broadband ISP subscriber base increase by +44,200 in the quarter to reach a total of 4,413,400 (a good return to growth).

As usual the bulk of Virgin’s internet access subscribers and broadband growth continue to come from its superfast cable (DOCSIS / EuroDOCSIS) platform (total 4,209,500), while their slower Virgin National (Virgin.net ADSL2+) based non-cable products fell from 218,600 in Q2 to 203,900 now (-14,700).

Meanwhile 1.8 million of Virgin’s cable customers are now on one of their superfast broadband packages (30Mbps to 120Mbps), which is up from 1.3m in the previous quarter and accounts for 42% of the ISPs broadband subscriber base (mostly due to their £110m double speeds upgrade). Some 837,500 of that 1.8m figure take the operators 50Mb to 120Mb packages.

It’s interesting to note that around 44% of the ISPs new broadband subscribers took service speeds of 60Mbps or higher during Q3, which suggests that demand for faster packages with a more flexible Traffic Management policy remains strong.

Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media, said:

“This has been a quarter where continued strong demand for superfast broadband and TiVo has led to lower churn and meaningful cable customer growth. Combined with progress in our business division, we have again delivered solid financial progress with continued revenue and OCF growth, translating into strong Free Cash Flow and shareholder returns.”

It’s worth pointing out that Virgin’s project to double their cable customers broadband speeds, which is due to be completed by mid-2013, has now upgraded 40% of their network (a big improvement from the 22% reported in Q2). Sadly there was no firm mention of their future plans for a 200Mbps or faster package or the possibility of a 4G mobile service.

Overall Virgin’s total quarterly revenue stood at £1,028m (up from £1,027m in Q2) and their cable network’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) fell slightly to £48.73 from £48.82 in Q2.