Virgin Media, which controls the Virgin Mobile business, has announced quarterly results for the final three months in 2009. Total revenue was up 3.3% year-on-year to £980 million, although mobile revenue was down slightly at £139 million.
77,100 new contract mobile customers were added in the quarter, giving Virgin Mobile a total of 949,700 contract mobile phone and mobile broadband customers – up 46% in the last year. 30% of the company's total mobile base have 'pay monthly' contracts, with the rest on prepay tariffs. Prepay numbers dropped by 98,300 in the quarter; the company says this "reflected a highly competitive market and our decision not to focus heavily on growth due to higher churn, low tariffs and lower overall lifetime value".