Virgin Media added to its subscriber base in the final quarter of 2009, according to its latest figures.

The company added 28.600 subscrobers in the final three months of 2009 giving a customer base of 4.77 million. Churn was also lower, at 1.2% (14.4% per year). More than 60% of subscribers are triple-play customers with quad-play penetration rising to 10.7% as nearly a million customers have a Virgin Mobile contract.

Virgin Media announced that it woul be offering a 100Mb broadband connection by the end of the year, with a 200Mb trial also taking place. Upgrading the lowest tier from 2Mb to 10Mb is nearing completion with 98% of broadband users having a speedo of 10Mb or more. The company attracted 63,000 new broadband customers in quarter four.

Regarding television, there were 34,200 net TV additions in Q4 and usage of on demand services rose to 58% with an average of 35 programems per month being watched, up from 30 programmes. 24% of digital subscribers have the V+ service with more than 112,000 V+ aditions taking place in Q4. Virgin Media said that analogue switch off would be completed by April. The company also said that further high definition TV channels will be available in the coming months, over and above the announced launches of Discovery and Eurosport HD.

Financially, total revenue increased by 3.3% to £980 million. Revenue per customer increased by 5.8% to £44.81 due to selective price rises, and growth in product per customer.

Commenting on the results, Neil Berkett, Virgin Media's chief operating officer, said: "In the fourth quarter, we successfully grew both the size and quality of our customer base. New and existing customers responded to an increasingly differentiated product portfolio and competitively priced bundles by buying more, higher value products. This demand underpinned growth across all our product lines and record ARPU which, combined with stable churn, drove a 6% increase in consumer cable revenue and 55% free cash flow growth.

"We continue to invest in the quality of our services: nearly all our 3.8m cable broadband subscribers now have a 10Mb service or higher; we are steadily enriching our pay TV service with exclusive on-demand content and new HD channels; the use of our market leading video-on-demand service has reached record levels; and attractively priced deals are fuelling continued growth in contract mobile subscriptions.

"In a rapidly evolving market, we are also laying the foundations for long term growth. Despite other operators' embryonic investment in fibre, Virgin Media's cable network will, for the foreseeable future, provide an unparalleled platform for delivering successive generations of new and innovative services.

"We are exploiting this advantage by expanding our trials of a 200Mb broadband service and are planning the commercial launch of a 100Mb service later this year. The development of our next generation TV platform is progressing well and we are confident it will provide the UK's most accessible, comprehensive and seamless home entertainment experience.

"Our range of high quality products, combined with investment in technological innovation, new growth channels and targeted cost control, mean we believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver strong operational and financial performance."

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