Virgin Media 2013 Annual Report Download - page 7

I - 5
telephony services that we count as RGUs, without regard to which, or to how many services they subscribe. Customer
Relationships generally are counted on a unique premises basis. Accordingly, if an individual receives our services in
two premises (e.g., a primary home and a vacation home), that individual generally will count as two Customer
Relationships. We exclude mobile and non-cable customers from Customer Relationships.
(7) Postpaid Mobile Subscribers represent the number of subscriber identification module, or SIM, cards relating to either a
mobile service or a mobile broadband contract. Postpaid Mobile Subscribers are considered active if they have entered
into a contract with Virgin Media for a minimum 30-day period and have not been disconnected.
(8) Prepaid Mobile Subscribers are considered active if they have made an outbound call or text message in the preceding
30 days.
LG/VM Transaction
We became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Global as a result of a series of mergers that were completed on June 7,
2013 (LG/VM Transaction), pursuant to which Liberty Global became the publicly-held parent company of the successors by
merger of our predecessor company and Liberty Global, Inc. (the predecessor to Liberty Global), as further described in note 3
to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II of this report.
Products and Services
Cable
We offer our customers a choice of packages and tariffs within each of our cable product categories. Our bundled packaging
and pricing are designed to encourage our customers to purchase multiple services across our product portfolio by offering incentives
to customers who subscribe to two or more of our products. The types and number of services that each customer uses, and the
prices we charge for these services, drive our revenue. For example, broadband internet is more profitable than our television
services and, on average, our “triple-play” customers are more profitable than “double-play” or “single-play” customers. As of
December 31, 2013, 84% of our cable customers received multiple services from us and 66% were “triple-play” customers, receiving
broadband internet, television and fixed-line telephony services from us.
We offer our consumer products and services through a broad range of retail channels, including inbound and outbound
telesales, customer care centers and online. We also engage in direct face-to-face marketing initiatives through a dedicated national
sales force of approximately 350 representatives, as well as comprehensive national and regional mass media advertising initiatives.
We have a national retail store base with approximately 80 retail stores and approximately 80 fixed and transportable kiosk-type
retail outlets that offer a complete range of our consumer products and services. Our stores not only provide sales services, but
also showcase our products, allowing demonstrations and customer interaction, and help resolve customer queries. In addition,
at December 31, 2013, we employed approximately 2,000 staff members in our cable and non-cable call centers. We also use
outsourced call centers in the U.K., Philippines and India.
Broadband Internet
We deliver high-speed broadband internet services to customers on our cable network. As of December 31, 2013, we provided
cable broadband services to over 4.3 million subscribers. We are one of the leading providers of high-speed broadband internet
access in the U.K., having introduced 50 Mbps rollouts in 2009, subsequently launching 100 Mbps in December 2010 and completing
our rollout of 100 Mbps service across the network in March 2012. In August 2012, we launched speeds of 120 Mbps; at
December 31, 2013, the rollout of our 120 Mbps services reached our entire network.
In January 2012, we announced a program to double the speed of our broadband, involving a significant investment in network
capacity and in the rollout of Data Over Cable Services Interface Specification 3.0, or DOCSIS 3.0, wireless gateways. All our
customers who were on 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps, 30 Mbps and 50 Mbps saw their headline speeds at least doubled under this program.
In November 2013, we announced a further speed increase which we began to implement in February 2014. As a result, we
currently offer three tiers of cable broadband services available to new subscribers with unlimited downloads (subject to any fair
usage or traffic management policy) at speeds of up to 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 120 Mbps, with the 120 Mbps tier currently in the
process of being increased to 152 Mbps.