Liberty Global gained 36,500 additional customers in the third quarter, compared to a loss of 18,100 in the corresponding period last year.
The growth was mostly in the UK and Ireland, where the increase of 37,300 contrasted with a loss of 3,400 in Q3 2019. Although it also gained customers in its two CEE markets Poland and Slovakia (8,600 v 7,100) its losses continued in both Belgium and Switzerland. These were nevertheless lower than last year – 3,100 compared to 12,600 and 6,300 compared to 9,200 respectively).
Liberty Global’s revenues in Q3 amounted to $2,954.5 million, or 4% more than the reported figure a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was $1,209.2 million (-0.2%), while the net loss of $1,203.1 million contrasted with a net gain of $!2,847.9 million in Q3 2019.
Commenting on the results, CEO Mike Fries said: “As the Covid-19 pandemic has altered the way we all work and live, our fibrerich networks continue to deliver seamless connectivity that has never been more crucial. During the quarter we continued to see strong demand for our high-speed connectivity products, adding 37,000 new customer relationships and over 70,000 broadband subscribers, our best quarterly result in over three years. The combination of our market-leading broadband speeds, next-generation video platforms and attractive mobile offerings drove our performance.
“In addition to solid fixed-line trends, our strategy of driving fixed-mobile convergence (“FMC”) continues to pay off. During Q3, we added 127,000 post-paid mobile subscribers, which represents our best quarterly performance of 2020. At the end of September, our blended FMC penetration increased to 25%, including 23% at Virgin Media and UPC Switzerland. After completion of our pending mobile transactions in each of these markets, we believe both businesses can grow convergence toward the mid-40% levels over time, similar to our current FMC penetration in Belgium and the Netherlands”.
Fries continued: “In the UK we are making progress with regulators on our joint venture with Telefonica’s O2 and continue to expect a mid-2021 completion. Our acquisition of Sunrise in Switzerland is now set to close mid- November after over 96% of shares were tendered and the deal was approved by Swiss regulators”.
