Sky impresses with strong broadband growth

Sky’s latest trading update shows strong demand for products, particularly broadband.

Sky’s broadband customer base (new and existing Sky customers) increased from 457,000 to 716,000 in the last quarter.  A rise of 259,000.  It also said it has 70% coverage of the UK through unbundling BT phone exchanges to offer its own broadband service, six months ahead of plan.

It said there were recorded net customer additions of 90,000, bringing the total number of customers to over 8.5 million.

As well its attractive broadband and TV packages, new additions were probably helped by the withdrawal of Sky’s basic channels from Virgin Media’s TV packages, following disputes over pricing.

James Murdoch, Chief Executive said:

“Our transformation continues to gather pace. Today we are adding new customers at the fastest rate since analogue switch-off; we are adding more broadband customers than any other provider; and we are the only major residential telephony provider growing its customer base.

Looking forward, we will continue to grow our share of an enlarged sector opportunity by delivering a superior customer experience, investing in the products and services customers want and by continuing to offer exceptional value to all our customers.”