The UK’s fifth largest mobile phone operator, Virgin Mobile Holdings has announced a 37% increase in customer connections for the last three months to 31 December 2004, with its total subscriber base reaching 5.03 million.
In Virgin’s key performance indicators (KPI), announced today, the Group revealed that it had added a net 417,000 users in the October to December period. The Company’s average revenue per unit (ARPU) performed in line with expectations, slipping to £132 in the quarter, down from £137 in the previous quarter. Virgin attributes this dip to the impact of the Ofcom interconnect rate cuts in September 2004.
Virgin’s service revenue grew by 9.4% in Q4, on a like on like period, with the underlying rate of growth, excluding the one-off impact of the Ofcom cut, being 19.7%. The Group equates this, combined with improved productivity and low incremental support costs, to fuelling the increasing cash generation and profitability of the company.
Non-voice services were reported to have increased to 29.7% of service revenues, up from 29% in the previous quarter on a rolling 12 months basis.
Commenting on the results, Tom Alexander, chief executive of Virgin Mobile said: “I’m very pleased to report another strong set of figures for Virgin Mobile; the company continues to expand in a very competitive market, In this last Christmas quarter we enjoyed record connections, resulting in Virgin Mobile passing its 5 million milestone.”
Virgin Mobile is optimistic in its outlook for 2005, with its strong connection performance continuing throughout January, enjoying a 25% increase compared to the same month last year. Operating leverage and controlled subscriber acquisition costs (SACs) are delivering improved operating profits margins, with SACs for the last quarter performing in line with expectations.
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