Telewest Shows Cable Penetration Dropping

TeleWest, the UK’s largest cable company, has shown a drop in its cable penetration rate from 22.2% to 21.9% in its 1995 results. This comes as the number of homes passed by TeleWest’s network increased from 805,475 to 1,142,860.

Other figures show that cable churn was reduced from 47.1% to 41.0% and cable television revenue increased 80% from £35.9m to £64.7m. This is the result of an 82% increase in TeleWest’s customers, from 139,371 to 253,049. 53% of TeleWest’s planned cable network is now completed and the company has secured a further £1.2bn borrowing facility to complete the work. Overall, net losses increased from £65 million to £115 million.

Alan Michels, chief executive of TeleWest, said: “Cable television performance was below our expectations and increasing penetration and reducing churn further will be key priorities for us in 1996. I am confident that by building on the work we started in 1995 to enhance consumer awareness, customer service and programme line-up, we will see improvement in 1996.”

TeleWest: 01483 750900