NTL has reported an increase in losses of 33% in its Q3 results, in line with targets for the year. Revenues were up 15% on Q2, reaching £132 million, whilst pre-tax losses grew to £713 million.
The increase in losses is largely as a result of rising interest costs, NTL are struggling with a £70 million increase in interest payments.
The US-listed cable operator revealed that subscribers to its digital TV services had grown by 20% to 1.14 million and that 79,000 customers now subscribe to its broadband internet service. This is on track to meet NTL’s target of 1.25 million digital TV subscribers and 100,000 broadband cable customers by the end of this year.
Barclay Knapp, president and chief executive of NTL said: “We are pleased with our progress this quarter, especially since the third quarter is traditionally challenging in our industry. We are continuing to concentrate on our 2001 objectives: improving service levels, realizing better revenue potential in our products, reducing costs and increasing asset utilization. We also increased our funding this quarter in an extremely challenging market, closing financing transactions with strategic partners Cisco, GE Capital and Nortel. Once again, the team executed beautifully and demonstrated the real economic power of our business.”
