Fears over the UK trading environment have forced Virgin Media O2 to shift its revenue guidance from ‘Growth’ to ‘Stable’.
The same price increases that have helped parent Liberty Global to improve its performance across its core Fixed Mobile Convergence operations are causing concern to UK consumers.
“With wider economic pressures persisting, Q3 has remained a tough environment to navigate as some consumers tighten spend, notably across mid-tier TV, home phone and on low-margin handsets,” said Lutz Schüler, CEO, Virgin Media O2.
Despite this, VMO2’s fixed customer base returned to positive growth, with 32,500 net additions in the third quarter. There was also 40,800 broadband net adds. The average download speed across the company’s broadband base increased 34% year-on-year to 349 Mbps, approximately five times higher than the national average.
In the Netherlands, VodafoneZiggo’s FMC households remained stable at 1.5 million. Consumer fixed ARPU increased 4.4% year-on-year as a result of the price increase implemented in July.
Q3 earnings from continuing operations decreased 66.2% on a reported basis to $822.7 million.
The company is planning to shift its domiciled base to Bermuda, a move that is scheduled to take place in November.
