Profits at NTL decrease by 18%

THIRD-QUARTER profits at NTL fell almost 18% to €8.9 million, the cable TV operator said yesterday.

Revenues in the three months to September went up 3.5% to €26.5 million as the company benefited from a government-approved price hike earlier this year, but the non-recurrence of special deals with suppliers meant costs were higher and the bottom line suffered.

NTL Ireland managing director Graham Sutherland said the company continued to show positive progress in “an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

He was encouraged by the company’s ability to add new customers and said NTL would continue to win new residential and business customers.

Revenues were boosted by the addition of more than 6,000 new subscribers to the company’s digital TV service. Digital subscribers are more attractive to cable operators than those who sign up for the traditional analogue product, because they tend to buy extra sports and entertainment channels and are happier to pay more for TV services. Almost 89,000 people have taken out digital TV through NTL, while its total residential customer base edged up by 2,500 to over 343,000.

The company’s new high-speed internet access offering also had a good start. NTL has now signed up more than 5,000 broadband subscribers and has doubled the number of homes in which the service is available, to a total of 66,000. It plans to target 100,000 homes by the end of the year.

The company will face strong opposition from other players in the broadband market, but has the advantage of using its cable TV network to deliver the service to homes in Dublin, Galway and Waterford without the need for a telephone landline.

NTL’s own home phone service, which had been performing poorly with just 2,000 users, was discontinued last month after a safety scare resulted in a recall of the company’s phone equipment from homes. The equipment was said to be in danger of overheating.