Virgin Media adds 3,400 subscriptions in first quarter

Virgin Media Ireland added a net 3,400 subscriptions in the first quarter across its broadband, home telephone and cable television services, taking its total in the Irish market back over the million mark to 1,002,500.

The company, which is owned by Liberty Global, posted a rare increase in cable television subscribers, which rose by 1,000 since the fourth quarter of 2018 to 269,200. This was despite a programme of shutting down old analogue cable subscriptions during the period. The company's pay-TV subscriptions have declined sharply in recent years.

Virgin also added 2,400 broadband subscribers in the first three months, bringing the tally for the category to 378,100, while its 352,300 home telephone subscriptions were unchanged on the previous period.

Mobile

The number of “homes passed” by the company rose 6,800 to 929,800.

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Separately, Virgin also has 86,100 mobile customers, up 4,600 on the fourth quarter of 2018.

The company said it had continued on a path of "solid progress" in the first quarter of 2019, investing further in both its network and its subsidiary Virgin Media Television, previously known as TV3 Group.

Recent network investments have been made in Athy, Arklow, Ballincollig, Dundalk, Dungarvan, Drogheda, Ennis, Enniscorthy, Gorey, Limerick, Portarlington, Tuam, Shannon, Wicklow and Wexford, it said.

Liberty Global, which is controlled by Irish-American billionaire John Malone, saw its revenue fall 0.6 per cent in the first quarter to $2.868 billion (€2.56 billion), while operating income decreased 10.3 per cent year-on-year to $105.5 million.