Sky broadband customer numbers up 19%

Wednesday 30 April 2008 14:59:18 by John Hunt

Sky have increased their broadband subscriber base by 229,000 in the first quarter of this year, 41% of which were new customers to Sky. As of 31st March, Sky had 1.428 million broadband customers and 88% of those were connected via the Sky LLU network, where Sky operate their own equipment in the telephone exchange. Compared with this time last year, this is a broadband customer increase of just under 1 million. Broadband has seen a total investment of £127 million over the 9 months of the financial year so far, £36 million of which in the last quarter.

Triple play customers on the combined Sky "See, Speak, Surf" package only account for one in ten customers, although 57% of broadband customers also took Sky Talk. This leaves obvious room for expansion into the competitive triple/quad play markets which will be needed if they intend to reach 10 million overall customers (currently at 8.888 million) by 2010. Overall, Sky had a net customer additions of 56,000 for the quarter, up 10% year on year, and the lowest third quarter churn (10.5%) for four years. For the nine month period revenue increased by 10% to £3.7 billion with operating profit of £521 million, a decline of £36 million.

The full interim statement for the nine months can be found here (PDF).