Virgin Media loses online customers, but they spend more

British cable company Virgin Media lost 36,000 customers in the second quarter, taking its total to 4.78 mln, but those who remained spent more as the company pursued a strategy of selling more of its telecoms and television services to each one.
Virgin Media, which has Britain's fastest broadband connections, increased sales by 2% to 986 mln pounds ($1.62 bln), in line with analysts' forecasts, and announced a new 850 mln-pound share buyback and debt repayment programme.
Chief Executive Neil Berkett said he was satisfied with the results in a seasonally weak quarter and when the British economy grew just 0.2%.
"We are acquiring and growing data-savvy, data hungry customers," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Asked about the current quarter, he said: "The confidence level of consumers has not really lifted."
Virgin Media competes with telecoms provider BT and satellite broadcaster BSkyB to supply broadband, broadcast and on-demand TV and mobile and home telephony.
By mid-2012 it aims to offer broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second — fast enough to download a music album in 5 seconds — to all homes on its network, which covers about half of Britain's households.
Virgin Media's second-quarter operating cashflow rose 6% to 392 mln pounds, beating expectations, and free cashflow rose 13% to 123 mln pounds.
Average revenue per cable user rose 3% to 47.35 pounds per month, while average monthly churn — the percentage of customers leaving — rose slightly to 1.4%.
New York-traded Virgin Media shares have risen 3% this year so far, outperforming a 6% decline in the European media index. Its London-traded stock is little changed from the start of the year.