Virgin Media puts fibre at heart of expansion plans

Virgin Media now has 4.21 million broadband customers

Virgin Media has attributed a strong second-quarter performance to its fibre network, which the company believes gives it a "substantial" strategic advantage.

Neil Berkett, chief executive at Virgin Media, said at an earning release conference that the ISP's network "cannot be replicated and will not be replicated, certainly not in my tenure".

He also urged the Advertising Standards Authority to follow Ofcom's independent review of broadband speeds in investigating competitors that advertise speeds they struggle to deliver.

"If the Financial Services Authority allowed this to happen we would be screaming the roof down, but we can allow inferior broadband suppliers to lie to the marketplace," he said.

Virgin Media added 28,100 broadband customers during the second quarter to take its total base to 4.21 million.

The company said that more than 650,000 customers now subscribe to its 20Mbit/s and 50Mbit/s services, a 43 per cent year-on-year increase. Some 74,000 of these have selected the top-speed 50Mbit/s service, a 28 per cent increase on the previous quarter.

The company has heavily promoted its offerings, increasing sales and marketing spend from £30m to £40m in a year, and increasing its retail presence from 68 to 92 stores with a further 25 planned to open by year end.

Beckett claimed that the resulting increase in brand awareness had made the company the "second most powerful brand in media in the UK".

Speaking at the same event, Eamonn O'Hare, Virgin Media chief financial officer, announced an immediate £125m accelerated share buy-back programme which will form part of a repurchase of £377m worth of common stock over the next year to return to shareholders.