News 

As part of the yearly financial results for 2001, the company reported that it had 107,000 installed subscribers to its broadband service and that growth was 1,135 per cent, year on year. Fast Internet access was a major motivating factor, claimed CEO Adam Singer, 'proving there is a need for speed'.

While the loss may be large - and it compares with a £700m deficit for the previous year - total sales for the year of £1.32bn still beat analysts' expectations

ADVERTISEMENT

when the company announced the yearly results.

'Revenue up, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) up, churn down, capital expenditure down and SG&A [administrative expenses] flat on a pro forma basis,' commented Singer. 'All the raw indicators of performance are heading in the right direction, but the best number is the excellent growth in high-speed Internet connections.

The group CEO of Telewest Communications also emphasized the benefits of offering the three services of phone, cable TV and broadband Internet. '70 per cent of our broadband customers take three services, clearly demonstrating that our bundle of television, telephone and Internet wins. This time last year, we were selling 380 broadband connections a day on average. Today we are averaging 900 sales a day.'

(In its last published results, back in November, NTL UK recorded 79,000 broadband customers, an increase of 73 per cent over the year.)