[August 10, 2009] Virgin loses customers but gains spenders Tweet Aug 06, 2009 (Evening Standard - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Virgin Media lost 26,200 television, broadband and landline telephone customers between April and June. But the group said today that the average spend of its subscribers rose by 3.8 percent to GBP43.27 in the second quarter compared with the previous year, as Virgin persuaded more of its customers to extend their packages into new platforms. Most of the deserting subscribers were broadband and landline customers on cheap deals. Chief executive Neil Berkett said Virgin's focus is on increasing the number of premium customers. "We now have a record number of 'triple play' subscribers -- customers who get broadband, fixed-line phones and cable TV services from us," he said. This means its total number of cable TV subscribers actually increased by 20,400 in the period, while Virgin has added 5100 new broadband users. The number of its mobile-phone customers on contracts has risen 63 percent in the year to 712,300. The US-listed company is investigating a return to the London Stock to reflect its UK-focus. "We are hopeful we will make progress with this within the next few months," Berkett said. Its Nasdaq listing is a hangover from its days as NTL. Group revenues were almost flat at GBP936 million in the quarter, while its net loss has narrowed to GBP49 million from GBP449 million a year earlier. To see more of the Evening Standard, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thisislondon.co.uk. Copyright (c) 2009, Evening Standard, London Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]