Virgin Media O2 has revealed its financial result – revenue, investment, subscriber growth, etc. for the first quarter of 2024.
Revenue of Virgin Media O2 dipped 0.5 percent to £2,588.8 million, as revenue excluding the impact of nexfibre construction dropped 4.3 percent. The primary driver was low-margin handset revenue which dropped 24.6 percent. Mobile revenue fell 4.7 percent to £1,362.7 million.
Consumer fixed revenue of Virgin Media O2 rose 0.1 percent to £822.9 million, supported by stabilisation of consumer fixed ARPU. B2B fixed revenue dropped 18.7 percent to £108.7 million driven by pricing headwinds.
Other revenue grew 35.5 percent to £294.5 million driven by increased nexfibre construction revenue, partially offset by reduced ICT revenue.
Virgin Media O2 has increased network investment as deployment of 5G and fibre continued at pace. The capital expenditure of Virgin Media O2 has reached £415.4 million vs £430.5 million.
FTTP homes serviceable footprint increased by 194,000 in Q1, as Virgin Media O2 build accelerates by 80 percent. It switched on 5G Standalone in 14 cities across the country.
Lutz Schuler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said: “We are gathering momentum in accelerating fibre build and marketing the nexfibre footprint, launching new services to enhance and improve customer experience, and progressing wider IT efficiency programmes as we continue our digital transformation.”
Virgin Media O2’s fixed-line business has lost 2,000 customers in Q1 to reach 5.8 million at the end of the first quarter.
Virgin Media O2’s premium ARPU per fixed-line customer relationship was broadly stable for the second consecutive quarter at £46.25, ahead of price rises being implemented in Q2.
Virgin Media O2’s broadband customer base grew by 5,300, while growth in broadband speeds continued, as average download speeds increased 17 percent to 368Mbps.
Virgin Media O2 became the first major UK provider to launch a residential 2Gbps service in February, with the new services initially available across the nexfibre network.
Virgin Media O2’s contract mobile base reduced by 74,500, ending Q1 at 16 million. This was driven by a reduction in handset sales and disconnections related to the decommissioning of a legacy billing system, while Q1 O2 monthly contract churn remained stable at 1.2 percent.
Virgin Media O2’s total mobile connections grew to 45.1 million, as growth in IoT and wholesale were partially offset by a reduction in contract and prepaid connections.
Virgin Media O2 said the serviceable fixed network footprint increased by 194,000 FTTP homes in Q1, continuing high-quality build to the nexfibre network and representing an increase in build pace of 80 percent.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
